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Why She Became a 
Spiritualist: 

Twelve Lectures 

Delivered before the 

J\l inncafolis Association of t3j()iriticalisis. 



BY 

1 



ABB!"- A. JUnSOJV, 



Daughter of ADONIRAM JUDSON, Missionary to the Burmese Empire. 



November jo, i8go March 75, i8gi. 



MINNEA POLIS : 
Alfred Roper, Printer. 

iSgi. 






Kntered according to act of Congress in the year 1891, by 

MISS ABBY A. JUDSON, 
In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 



n/ 



THIS BOOK IS 

TO MY SPIRIT INFLUENCES, 

WHOSE TRANSPARENT MEDIUM I ASPIRE TO BE; 

AND ESPECIALLY TO MY 

NOBLE FATHER, AND MY LOVING MOTHER. 

ABBY A. JUDSON. 



CONTENTS 



A SKETCH OF THE AUTHOR'S WFE, 

INTRODUCTION 

LECTURE I: What is Spiritualism? 

POEM: Echo it, Rivers and Rills, 

LECTURE II: What is the Good of Spiritualism? . . . . 

POEM: Extract from "The Seasons," 

LECTURE III: Do Spiritualists Believe in God? . . . . 

POEM: Extract from the "Essay on Man," 

LECTURE IV: Personal Evidences of Spiritualism, . . . . 

POEM: There is no Death, 

LECTURE V: Unreasonable Dogmas, 

POEM: The Problem, 

LECTURE VI: What Jesus Really Taught, 

POEM: Abou Ben Adhem, 

LECTURE VII: Spiritualism of Jesus 

POEM: Vital Spark, . * 

LECTURE VIII: Spiritualism the Foundation of all the Religions 

POEM: The Petrified Fern 

LECTURE IX: Hovsr to Investigate Spiritualism 
POEM: Extract from "In Memoriam." .... 

LECTURE X: What is Death? 

POEM: Face to Face, 

LECTURE XI: Astronomical Location of the Spirit World, 

POEM: The Better Land, 

LECTURE XII: The Future Religion of the World. 

POEM: A Dream of Heaven 

PERSONAL COMMUNICATIONS, 



PAGE. 

4 
8 
ri 
30 
31 
50 
51 
70 
71 
92 

93 
113 
115 
134 
135 
155 
156 
176 
177 
197 
199 
218 
220 
238 
239 
258 
260 



A SKETCH OF THE AUTHOR'S LIFE. 



The following sketch of the author's life is pre- 
sented, so that all who are interested in Baptist mis- 
sionary work, and all who have been her pupils 
since she began to teach, in 1853, may know that it 
is indeed she who has become a Spiritualist and a 
worker for the cause of Spiritualism. 

Abby A. Judson was born in Maulmain, Burmah, 
October 31, 1835. Her parents were Dr. Adoni- 
ram Judson, and Mrs. Sarah Hall Boardman Judson, 
both missionaries to w^hat was then called the Bur- 
mese Empire. 

In 1 84 1, the family took a sea- voyage for their 
health, and her little brother Henry, tenderly spoken 
of as "little Henry of Serampore," passed to spirit- 
life in Serampore, near Calcutta. Early in 1845, 
her mother's health steadily declining, she accom- 
panied her on a coast voyage to Tavoy and Mergui, 
the former place being the home of the two mission- 
aries, fondly called Uncle and Aunty Wade, by all 
the children who knew them. (See page 262). 

April 26, 1845, the whole family, except the three 
little ones, embarked for America. At Port Louis 
Mrs. Judson penned the affecting stanzas, two of 
which are quoted on page 91. 



Why she became a Spiritualist. 

On Sept. I, Mrs. Judson passed to spirit-life in 
the harbor of St. Helena, and her dear body was 
interred on that island. On Oct. 15, 1845, Dr. Jud- 
son, with his children Abb}^, Adoniram, and Elna- 
than, reached Boston. The following year, having 
married Mrs. Emily C. Judson, he sailed for Bur- 
mah, and passed in his turn to the other side of life, 
April 12, 1850. 

Abby was educated at Bradford Academy, Mass. ; 
at the school of Miss Anable, Philadelphia; of Mrs. 
Hubbard, Hanover, N. H.; of Miss Bucknall, New 
York City; and of Mrs. Buel, Providence, R. I. 

From 1853 to 1854, ^^^ ^'^^ ^ governess in New 
York City; from 1856 to 1859, ^^^ taught at the 
Female College in Worcester, Mass. ; from 1 860 to 
1861, at the Seminary in Warren, R. L; from 1861 
to 1864, at Bradford Academy, Mass.; from 1864 
to 1868, she was governess in families in Albany, 
N. Y., and in Fall River, Mass.; from 1868 to 1869, 
she had a private school in Plymouth, Mass,; and 
from 1869 to 1876, she taught in the High School 
in the same place. 

After a year of travel in Europe, she taught from 
1B77 to 1879 ^^ College Hill, Ohio. She then went 
to Minneapolis, and founded Judson Female Institute, 
which she carried on from 1879 to 1890. In the 
autumn of 1887, she became a Spiritualist. In 1890, 
^he disposed of her Seminary, and has since de- 
voted herself somewhat to giving private lessons. 



W,riY SHE BECAME A SPIRITUALIST. 

but mainly to labor for the cause of Spiritualism. 

She used to try to be happy. She is now happy, 
without tr3dng to be so. If her happiness were 
founded on delusion, it would be unreasonable and 
foolish. It is founded on solid facts, and it therefore 
increases with each revolving year. 

August 9, 1888, being the centennial of the birth 
of her father, Adoniram Judson, the event was cel- 
ebrated at his birth-place in Maiden, Mass. Being 
unable to be present, his daughter Abby, who had 
become a Spiritualist the year before, but "secretly 
for fear of" what the world might say, wrote the fol- 
lowing letter. It was read at the Celebration, and 
printed in the Baptist newspapers. The letter is 
given below, just as it was read, a few words only 
being omitted, that do not harmonize with the pres- 
ent views of the author: — 

To the First Baptist Church in Maiden^ Mass : 

Dear Friends in Christ. — I wish that the many 
miles that separate Minneapolis from Maiden could 
be eliminated to-day, and that I could be with you 
on this centennial of the birth of my father. My 
heart and soul are with you, and I thank our God 
that he has put it into your hearts to celebrate this 
anniversar3\ Adoniram Judson has been alive one 
hundred years. Nearly two-thirds of this time he 
dwelt here in the flesh, and labored with untiring 
energy for the King of Glory. The remaining 
years of this century of existence he has dwelt in 
the land of souls. But he is not idle there. He is 



Why she becatsie a Spiritualist. 

not dead. The same spirit of self-sacrifice, the same 
energy of nature, the same force which made him 
the pioneer missionary here, the same burning love 
for his fellow-creatures, the same devotion to the 
Infinite Source of all being, characterize him there 
as here, for they formed the essential elements of 
his nature. Though eternal ages will bring added 
development, he will always be the individual spirit 
that we knew him here. And one day, if we are 
akin to him in aspiration, we shall meet him there. 
Let us imitate him in all the points in which he re- 
sembled the Son of God; and so shall we be wel- 
comed to his ennobling society when God shall call 
us to his heavenly home. With love to all who 
are one in the sfirit of Jesus Christ, I am 

Your sister in faith, 

Abby a. Judson. 



INTRODUCTION. 



The following Lectures, were given in Minneapo- 
lis, Minn., before the Association of Spiritualists, 
during the twelve wxeks extending from Nov. 30, 
1890, to Feb. 15, 1891. Speaking in public was 
somewhat new work to the writer; but, with the ef- 
fort, came aid from above. 

After embracing Spiritualism, Miss Judson was 
favored by lessons from Dr. H. W. Abbott, who 
constantly directed his pupils to "follow their impres- 
sions." This motto, seemingly so simple, has been 
the key-note of the efforts of which this book is 
the result. 

After returning from the inspiring Camp-meeting 
in Clinton, Iowa, in 1890, she "had an impression" 
to organize a new Association in Minneapolis. This 
was done, and members of the Associaton contribu- 
ted their labors and made the addresses for two 
months. It being difficult for the most of them to con- 
tinue to speak in public, because this effort interfered 
with their other spiritualistic work, it was felt that 
Miss Judson, who was not a healer, nor engaged in 
special work as a medium, should be the one to as- 
sume the burden of giving the addresses. She un- 
dertook the work with some trepidation, but relied 
on the promise of the Spirit-world that they would 
"fill her mouth." 

Having given one lecture, she feared she could 
not give a second, and had the same experience after 



Why she became a Spiritualist. 

giving that one. But, necessity knows no law; and, 
as time passed on, she found that there was alwa3^s 
more to saj^ and what was undertaken with a trem- 
or, became a pleasure. 

As her method of putting herself in condition to 
receive spiritual aid is very simple as well as effect- 
ive, she will describe it, hoping it may benefit be- 
ginners in similar work. 

Sunda3^'s lectures were prepared on Saturday af- 
ternoon, and after dinner on Sunday. On these 
two afternoons, when ready to write, she dead- 
ened her door-bell, darkened her study with close 
curtains, "entered her closet and shut to" the 
curtain, and there played on her organ in the 
dark, until she saw beautiful waves of magnetic 
light, resembling the aurora borealis shimmer- 
ing over the Arctic sk}^ She then went to her 
desk, raised a curtain just enough for her to see to 
write, and then wTote notes, heads, and sometimes 
whole sentences, without any conscious effort. The 
impetus lasted perhaps three-quarters of an hour, 
when she repeated the process, and two-thirds of 
the lecture was ready for deliver3^ It was easy to 
finish it on Sunday afternoon. 

When in accordance with her mother's direction, 
given Feb. lo, 1891 (see page 263), she began to 
write out the lectures for publication in this book, 
she followed the same method. All of these lect- 
ures, with one exception, were written in three after- 
noons each, working from two to three hours each 
time. Thus, each lecture was wholly written out 
and prepared for the compositor in six or seven 
hours. 

Those who know the manual labor, besides the 



Why she became a Spiritualist. 

mental work, of writing a book, will see that this 
w^ork could not have been accomphshed so rapidl}', 
without outside aid. The author knows something 
of literary work, and she declares that she could not 
possibly have accomplished the work so rapidly and 
so continuously under ordinary conditions. 

Another remarkable thing is that this work did 
not exhaust her vital forces, as has been the case in 
her literary labors before becoming a Spiritualist. 
She will add that during the five months in which the 
book was written, she has been engaged in teaching 
at least five forenoons in the week, has taught often 
in the afternoons, and has held from one to four 
circles at her home each week, besides presiding at 
all the Sunday meetings, and generally making the 
address. 

She feels inexpressibly grateful to those spirits 
w^ho have been educating her thus, during the 
months in which these lectures have been prepared. 
See hopes they will continue to work through her, 
and it is her earnest wish, aim, and resolve, to "fol- 
low the impressions" that they may go on giving to 
her. She is not afraid of being influenced by unde- 
veloped or impure spirits, for the simple reason that 
she w^ants to be good, and is willing to be guided. 

"In the name of Infinite Good, in which she lives, 
and moves, and has her being, she beseeches all 
good, pure, true, and loving spirits to come to her 
at this time," and fcrevermore. 



LECTURE I. 

WHAT IS SPIRITUALISM ? 

In answering this question, let us first consult the 
dictionary. 

In Webster's Unabridged, we find three defini- 
tions. The first is, "The state of being spiritual." 
This notion of the meaning of the word rests on 
the common opinion of English speaking people; 
and all will admit that if spiritualism be not the state 
of being spiritual, it is not what it should be. 

The second definition is the philosophical one, 
and first declares that spirituahsm is the opposite of 
materialism. A materialist believes that matter is 
all that there is, and that spiritual substances do not 
exist. He thinks that the soul of man is the result 
of a particular organization of matter in the body. 
Spiritualism is the opposite of materialism, and is 
the doctrine that all that exists is spirit or soul. 
Two philosophers, Berkeley and Fichte, advocated 
spiritualism in the philosophical sense given in the 
dicjtionary. Berkeley believed that the external 
world consists in impressions made on our minds by 
Deity; while Fichte claimed that it is a mere educt 
of the mind. Plato also believed that spirit is the 



12 Why she became a Spiritualist. 

only real existence, and that the external world is 
but the shadow of eternal realities. He illustrates 
his famous doctrine of ideas in the following wa}'. 
He sa3^s that while we dwell in this physical world, 
w^e may be compared to men sitting in a cave, bound 
by the feet and neck, so that they cannot move nor 
look behind them. Back of them, where they can- 
not see it, is a great light. Behind them, but be- 
tween them and the great light, is also a raised 
causeway. On this causeway real objects are pass- 
ing along. The light behind the causeway throws 
the shadows of these moving objects in front of the 
men. They see these shadows; and, as they have 
never seen anything but shadows of things, they 
take these shadows for the realities. In this way 
does Plato explain to us his doctrine that w^hile we 
are chained in our physical bodies, we see only the 
shadows, while in the spiritual world are the real 
things, of which the physical eyes see but the 
images. So much for the philosophical definition of 
the w^ord spiritualism. 

The third definition given by the dictionary is that 
which specially applies to what is now known as 
Modern Spiritualism. According to this, spiritual- 
ism consists in frequent communication of intelli- 
gence from the world of spirits, by means of physi- 
cal phenomena, manifested through a person of 
special susceptibility called a medium. 

All these three definitions enter into our concep- 



Why she became a Spiritualist. 13 

tion of the meaning of this word; and, by giving to 
each its due weight, we have a clear and compre- 
hensive notion of spiritualism as it will be treated in 
this and the following lectures. 

There is no use in denying that a large share of 
obloquy attaches to those who avow themselves be- 
lievers in Spiritualism. To declare himself a Spirit- 
ualist requires a certain amount of courage. Let 
us follow the steps of a timid investigator of Spirit- 
ualism. Brought up in the church, linked by family 
ties to those who look on the manifestations as a 
web of trickery woven to win dollars from fools, or 
as pure sorcery invented by the father of lies in 
order to damn souls, these beginners pursue their 
investigations in silence and in secrecy. So fearful 
are they that their opposing friends know that they 
have attended a service, or visited a clairvoyant, that 
they go under a false name, are heavily veiled or 
even disguised, in the hope of not being recognized. 
But, having once begun to investigate these matters, 
they are unable to stop, until they know for a cer- 
tainty whether there be "intelligent communication 
between the living and the so-called dead." After a 
while, it leaks out that these persons have been seen 
at seances, and that they are becoming interested 
in Spiritualism. Brought to bay by their opposing 
friends, and forced to confess, they declare that they 
are not Spiritualists — that they are only "investigat- 
ing." They are threatened with social ostracism, 



14 Why she became a Spiritualist. 

the minister is brought in to tell the shrinking in- 
quirers that the whole thing is from Satan himself, 
and that their course will probably land them in an 
insane asylum, and ultimately plunge them into the 
lowest deeps of hell. Many succumb to the pres- 
sure, cease to investigate, and tell Spiritualistic 
friends that they have decided to have nothing to do 
with Spiritualism. 

But some do not give up the quest. They have 
already found so much that is genuine in the mani- 
festitations, so sweet has become the thought that 
the dear friends in spirit life can return to bless, that 
they will not give up Spiritualism. It begins to be 
known that they are Spiritualists. Friends sigh, and 
foes exult. Acquaintances whisper to each other 
that they always thought them somewhat odd, that 
there was a streak of insanity in the family, that 
they are surely a cross between an idiot and a luna- 
tic. Society looks askance on them, business de- 
creases, friends fall off, the church frowns on them, 
and at last excludes them. Does it not indeed re- 
quire some courage to avow one's self a Spirit- 
ualist ? 

Well, why is Spiritualism regarded by many as a 
disgrace to those who profess it? Let us look again 
at the three definitions of the dictionary. 

The first one is, "being spiritual." All will admit 
that there is nothing disgraceful here. The philo- 
sophical one is that it is opposed to materialism. 



Why she became a Spiritualist. 15 

While it is true that the mere money-getter does 
not respect the idealist, yet the real thinkers, the 
men who influence others in the long run, have great 
esteem for those who look beyond the sordid dust 
into the world of thought and soul. Give the ideal- 
ist time, and he will in the end distance the materi- 
alist. To judge a Berkeley, a Fichte, a Plato 
aright, let a few ages intervene, and then see the 
halo around their brows. So, it is not with the 
philosophical definition of Spiritualism that the ele- 
ment of disgrace comes in. Though materiaHsm 
has its day, it will be but a short one ; and its opposite, 
call it idealism, spiritualism, or what you will, will 
triumph by and by. 

It is then to the third definition of Spiritualism 
that the obloquy attaches. According to this, it is 
the frequent communication with those who have 
left the body, by means of ph3^sical phenomena mani- 
fested through sensitives, or mediums. Ah ! here is 
the rub. The world is willing that we should be 
spiritual; we may follow the teachings of Plato, 
Hegel, Fichte, and Berkeley; but, that denizens of 
the spirit world can communicate with us by means 
of physical phenomena is intolerable. This is the 
feature of Spiritualism that makes us despised and 
rejected of men. 

And yet, the enhghtened, pure-minded, aspira- 
tional Spiritualist of to-day, not only wishes to be 
spiritual, not only opposes materialism with heart 



1 6 Why she became a Spiritualist. 

and soul, not only believes that his soul is immortal, 
though the carbon, hydrogen, ox^^gen, and nitrogen 
of his physical body be decomposed, but he also be- 
lieves that ''there is intelligent communication be- 
tween the living and the so-called dead." 

But, dear friends, in our delight at finding that 
our dear ones can and do return to bless us, let us 
remember that Spiritualism embraces far more than 
this consoling fact. Let us keep in mind the philos- 
ophy that rests on the phenomena, and let us ever 
remember that the phenomena and the philosophy 
will not avail to better our condition in spirit life, 
unless we have begun to be truly spiritual here. 

It seems to us that a candid examination of what 
Spiritualism is, according to so plain and un-ideal a 
book as the dictionary, has already placed it on a 
loftier eminence than is occupied by any other re- 
ligious body of the day. Let us see. 

Is the term Presbyterianism as broad as is Spirit- 
ualism? Presbyterian is derived from the Greek, 
presbus, an old man, and means a body ruled by 
elders. A Presbyterian, judging by his denomina- 
tional name, is far narrower than a Spiritualist, who 
derives his name from what many believe to be the 
all of the universe, matter itself being only a shadow 
of spirit. A Baptist assumes that special designa- 
tion because he claims that only believers should be 
baptized, and that only immersion of the whole body 
is a true baptism. Now compare the name Baptist 



Why she became a Spiritualist. 17 

with the name Spiritualist. Why did the Methodists 
assume that name? Because they determined that 
method and system should guide their principles and 
rule their lives. The name Methodist is less nar- 
row than Presbyterian and Baptist. The Episcopa- 
lians get their distinctive name from the Greek word 
episcopoi, meaning overseers, and their bishops 
overlook the whole church economy. A term some- 
what broader than any of the preceding is that em- 
ployed by the Congregationalists. Instead of being 
ruled by elders or bishops, or guided by any set 
method, their church poHty is democratic, and all 
matters are decided by the vote of the brethren as- 
sembled. To be sure, their distinctive cognomen 
might apply to any body of men, assembled for any 
object whatever. But, for that matter, the word 
ecclesiastic itself is derived from a Greek word 
which meant merely a secular assembly of citizens 
of a state. 

With regard to the Unitarians, that name claims 
that they reject the unreasonable notion that there 
can be three infinite beings included in one person- 
ality; while the distinctive belief of the Universalists 
is that salvation will be bestowed on all in the end, 
and that no soul that emanated from God shall be 
eternally lost. We are often asked by Unitarians 
and Universalists why Spiritualists do not coalesce 
with them, for they say that we believe as they do. 
In reply to that question so frequently asked, we 



1 8 Why she became a Spiritualist. 

say that while Spiritualists do reject three infinite 
gods mysteriously combined into one infinite god, 
and do believe that no soul in God's universe can be 
irrecoverably lost, yet Spiritualists know and pro- 
claim far more than Universalists and Unitarians 
would dare to proclaim from their pulpits. We are 
pleased to coalesce with all who have the courage 
of their real convictions; but we are sorry for the 
weakness of those who are secretly Spiritualists, 
and yet masquerade in the liberal churches. 
"Dare to be right, 

Dare to be true." 

With regard to the Swedenborgians, they take 
their name simply from the name of the man who 
made an exposition of the doctrines of Jesus that 
comes nearer to Spiritualism than has been done by 
the other sects of Christianity. 

The Roman Catholics claim to be the true church 
of Christ, and the very expression church excludes 
those who are not of that distinctive body. The 
Greek church, again, is another division of Christen- 
dom. The religion we seek is the heritage of the 
whole human race, and belongs of right to those 
who never heard of Christ just as much as to those 
who call themselves his followers. God is the fa- 
ther of all, and all men are brethren. 

All the above named are divisions of what is gen- 
erally called Christianity. But this term, though 
broad, is limited as compared to Spiritualism. It is 



Why she became a Spiritualist. 19 

derived from the name of its founder, Christ, how- 
ever widely and sadly the sects have strayed from 
the precepts really taught by the ideally pure Naza- 
rene. According to them, none can be called Chris- 
tians but those who accept him as their head; and, 
as but a fraction of the human race-has yet done so, 
in nearly two thousand years, Christianity itself is 
far too narrow a name for the faith of a Spiritualist. 

With regard to other great religions, Judaism is 
a faith for the Jews alone, for that race has never 
sought to proselyte. Mohammedanism resembles 
Judaism, in adhering to the doctrine of one supreme 
God. And it seems a continuation of Judaism, in 
that Mohammed claimed to be the last in a long line 
of prophets that were said to begin with Adam. He 
made a vast improvement on Judaism, however, in 
discarding the bloody rites for propitiating an of- 
fended Deity. 

Brahminism seemed especially adapted to Hindo- 
stan, and has never spread to any extent beyond 
that peninsula. On the other hand, Buddhism, the 
great offshoot from Brahminisrn, has sought to 
proselyte. The doctrines of its founder, the pure 
and self-denying Buddha, have spread from one 
country to another till it embraces more than one« 
fourth of mankind. As has been pointed out in Sir 
Edwin Arnold's "Light of the World," Christianity 
itself is really the child of Buddhism ; but the child 
has surpassed the parent, and what Jesus really 



20 Why she became a Spiritualist. 

taught reaches the heart of humanity better than 
the doctrines of Buddha. 

Taoism, one of the three great religions of China, 
is the rehgion of reason, and therefore tallies some- 
what with Spiritualism. It is however less warm, 
and has not the settled basis of facts to rest upon 
that our system possesses. 

All these religions have their Hmitations. These 
limitations arise from narrowness of doctrine ; from 
a servile deference to one man, its founder; or from 
race restrictions. Spiritualism, on the other hand, 
is utterly comprehensive. It is a cult, or rather a 
knowledge, that reaches all men in all conditions, in 
all countries, and in all ages of the world. Yes, it 
goes beyond this physical world, and embraces in 
its divine sway, all spirits out of the body, and all 
spirits in all the universe. It is all-embracing, and 
everywhere adaptable. In a subsequent lecture, we 
shall show that Spiritualism is the corner-stone of all 
the religions, and that what is really good in each is 
an integral part of Spiritualism. The religion of 
our abused Indians was a spiritualism adapted to 
their untutored condition. They worshipped, not 
idols, but a Great Spirit; and their medicine men 
were mediums between the spirit-world and this. 
But, as the human race develops, Spiritualism will 
develop; for it is in us, and for us, and of us. And 
when man reaches in the distant future the highest 
development possible in physical conditions, he will 
be more truly than ever a Spiritualist. 



Why she became a Spiritualist. 21 

When we say that Spiritualism is the corner- 
stone of all religions, we mean that each of those 
religions, m its beginning, rested on the fact that its 
founders had some special way of receiving com- 
munications from the spirit-world. What is that 
but Spiritualism? All the doctrines of Modern 
Spiritualism, all its philosophy, all its religion, rest, 
in the same manner, on the fact that direct commu- 
nications on those vital subjects are made to men 
by the spirit- world. An ordinary man cannot 
evolve out of his own mind a religion that other 
men will accept. He must show some sort of cre- 
dentials that either the Infinite Spirit, or progressed 
finite spirits, can teach him of the world beyond the 
grave. All religions have had this in the begin- 
ning. Surely Spiritualism, which uproots many 
of the doctrines of the old religions, must have a 
similar foundation on which to rest. It must have 
such a foundation, and it does have such a founda- 
tion. And the proofs must be of such a char- 
acter, that this practical, scientific nineteenth 
century can find no flaw, and no loop-hole of es- 
cape from the conviction that disembodied spirits 
do communicate with us in the flesh. In by-gone 
ages, when the laws of nature were not under- 
stood so clearly as now, superstition swayed the 
masses, and ignorance led them to accept the 
notion of supernatural events. In our day, a su- 
pernatural religion is rejected by all who can 



22 Why she became a Spiritualist. 

think independently, and religion itself must, like 
everything else, rest upon a scientific basis. The 
age of miracles has gone by. Persons now de- 
mand practise, not theory; fact, not faith. 

Can Spiritualism stand this test? If it can, this 
latter part of the nineteenth century will accept 
it. If it cannot do so, it will be rejected. It will 
be relegated to the oblivion which it would in that 
case so richly deserve. 

As Spiritualists claim that their facts rest on a 
scientific basis, and as these facts are considered 
highly improbable by many, let us for a few mo- 
ments consider what mental attitude should be 
maintained towards their claims regarding com- 
munion with spirits. We hold that we should 
treat these alleged facts with the same degree 
of fairness that we exercise towards other scien- 
tific facts. The present centur}' has introduced 
so many surprising things that we sometimes 
hear persons remark, "I am prepared to believe 
anything." Experience has shown that practi- 
cally no limit may be placed to the use of the 
forces of nature. . Intelligent spiritualists know that 
w^hat are known as physical phenomena are based 
on the laws of nature. These laws are applied 
by scientific, disembodied spirits to the problem 
of opening intelligent communication between the 
living and the so-called dead. 

Many times in history, people have ridiculed 



Why she became a Spiritualist. 23 

those who had new ideas. The man who pro- 
posed new theories and new methods was de- 
nounced as Utopian, unpractical, and foolish. 

Towards the end of the fifteenth century, there 
was one man whom the European world accused 
of being Utopian to the last degree. He was 
surely a one-ideaed, unpractical man! He took 
it into his unbalanced head that people could get 
to India by sailing west! The notion was held 
to be absurd in the extreme. To be sure he had 
investigated, and had many facts at command to 
support his opinion. But, argued his opposers, 
of what use are facts that are used to support an 
impossibility? He went to one ro3^al court after 
another, and was everywhere a laughing-stock 
and a bore. Scorned by all, this man Columbus 
clearly saw a truth, to which all the rest of the 
world was blind. To the laughing, scornful Old 
World, he gave a new one, beyond the Atlantic; 
and he led to the discovery of a new ocean, larger 
than the Atlantic and the Indian put together. 
An idealist, a visionar}^, they called him. An 
idealist, he conceived that the earth is round; a 
visionary, he saw regions and seas unknown to 
Europeans. Now, I put it to you, was the ex- 
istence of North and South America less a fact, 
because the most intelHgent persons in Europe, 
Columbus excepted, did not believe that they ex- 
isted? Well, like the Europeans of the fifteenth 



24 Why she became a Spiritualist. 

century, some persons now say that communica- 
tions from disembodied spirits, through physical 
phenomena, are impossible, Utopian, and foolish. 
But, facts are stubborn things; and an opinion 
that a thing is impossible has no weight whatever, 
when that thing is shown to be a fact. 

Our skeptical friends may say, "You tell me of 
facts. Where are they? Show me a fact, and I 
will believe it." Our reply is, "Do as Columbus 
did." Scoffers said to him, "You cannot get to 
India by sailing west. The thing is impossible." 
What did he do? He investigated the regions 
beyond. At last he went to Spain, and there 
Isabella, a woman, she — "Put up the flag the men 
had hauled down." Well, she got him the three 
little ships, he sailed west, and discovered America. 

In the public square in Genoa, there is a mag- 
nificent monument to the persevering and inspired 
discoverer. On one side of the square is the 
house where he was born. More thrilling than 
the sculptured monument even is the simple in- 
scription running along the face of the roof, 
"Cristofero Columbo, Genevese, scopre America." 
"Christopher Columbus, a Genoese, discovered 
America." Up to his time, they had only the 
Eastern Continent. He gave to the Old World 
a Nev/ World, never dreamed of before. 

Investigate with the same patience, determina- 
tion, and sagacity that Columbus used, and you 



Why she became a Spiritualist. 25 

will demonstrate for 3^oursel£ a S fir it-world^ 
whose denizens come to this, and, from their more 
advanced standpoint, teach us of the vast beyond, 
to which we are hastening. 

Humboldt tells us in his "Kosmos" that Columbus 
declared that he actually heard a voice that told 
him to sail west, and he would find the key to a 
new world. He obeyed the monitions of the wise 
spirit that instructed him. If he had lived in our 
day, Columbus would have been a Spiritualist. 
Aspirational, religious, courageous, he had in his 
nature the material of which the best Spiritualists 
are made. And he would have been in good com- 
pan}^ Let us never forget that the greatest phil- 
osopher of Greece, Socrates, and the noblest 
American, Abraham Lincoln, were both Spiritual- 
ists. Socrates often alluded to his attendant spirit, 
whose guiding voice he often heard. His abso- 
lute confidence in the immortality of the soul 
seemed strange to those who could infer the sepa- 
rate existence of the soul only by their reason. 
Socrates, like the modern Spiritualists, enjoyed 
the certainty of disembodied existence, because, 
like them, he knew the facts which prove it. 

As to our idolized Lincoln, it is well-known that 
he was a Spiritualist. Li some of the great emer- 
gencies of the Civil War, he had a medium* at the 
White House, whom he consulted. The most 

* Mrs. Nettie Colburn Maynard, White Plains, N. Y. 



26 Why she became a Spiritualist. 

elevated spirits guided his conduct, and the Eman- 
cipation Proclamation was one of the direct results 
of spirit influence. 

Many begin to investigate Spiritualism with 
bright hopes for the future. But finding that some 
w^ho have adopted this belief are vulgar and igno- 
rant people, they become disgusted. Well, my 
honest objecting friend, I suppose that Paul, be- 
fore his conversion, found that many of that new 
belief were vulgar and ignorant persons. Paul 
was accustomed to the very best Jewish society. 
He was polished in his manners and refined in his 
tastes. His robes were of the best material, and 
worn in a style that bespoke the high-bred gentle- 
man. He noticed that the followers of the Naza- 
rene wore the garb of plain workmen, and that they 
spoke and acted in a way that suggested their 
lowly origin. Paul was learned in both Jewish 
and Greek lore. He had sat at the feet of Gama- 
liel, and his logical mind had been drilled in the 
best training-school in Palestine. These Galilean 
fishermen had had no such advantages. They 
could barely read and write. Their leader had 
been just a carpenter who supported himself by 
his trade, until he began to be a healer and to give 
his plain talks to the people. He was a man who 
walked all over the country, accompanied by fish- 
ermen and men of like station. He had lived 
from hand to mouth, and had at last died a most 



Why she became a Spiritualist. 27 

disgraceful death. Clearly Paul wished to have 
nothing to do with such gentry. Prison and death 
for them ! 

But, a spiriritual manifestation made a wonder- 
ful change in the attitude of Paul's mind towards 
these followers of the executed carpenter. On 
his way to Damascus, to seize some of these poor 
wretches who lived there, in mid-day he was blind- 
ed by a dazzling light, and he heard a voice that 
claimed to be the voice of that dead Nazarene, 
reproving him, and declaring that in future he 
should be his follower. This "heavenly vision," 
as Paul called it, this "spiritual manifestation," as 
we say, proved to Paul that the carpenter Jesus, 
who had been most certainly killed, was just as 
certainly alive, somewhere. This experience 
showed him the power of the world to come, and 
he then and there determined to follow this strange 
being who had proved to him that the so-called 
dead can make intelligent communication to the 
living. Do we find that this new convert adopted 
the new faith in secret, and denied fellowship with 
the poor and ignorant men who also beheved in the 
Nazarene? By no means. When converted, "he 
strengthened his brethren." His learning, his breed- 
ing, his logical mind, his suavity, his eloquence, 
he brought to bear on the cause he had espoused, 
and he thus gave a wonderful impetus to the prop- 
agation of Christianity. 



28 Why she became a Spiritualist. 

Let us do the same. If we find that some Spir- 
itualists are coarse and unrefined and ignorant, let 
us with all the more energy work for the cause 
that we find to be true, and thus, like Paul, 
"strengthen our brethren." 

Spiritualism embraces all, it comprehends all. 
God, force, life, infinite spirit, call it what you 
will, is everywhere, and permeates every indi- 
vidual spirit in the universe. Spiritualism makes 
spirit the vital power that informs all matter. 
Without Spiritualism, we would have a dead 
world, a dead universe. Many deny that they 
are Spiritualists. But indeed, we are forced to 
be Spiritualists in reality, if we are alive. And 
Spiritualism embraces every class of spirits, high 
or low, embodied or disembodied. There are 
lofty, seraphic spirits. There are aspirational and 
loving ones. There are undeveloped, earth-bound 
ones, both in the body and out of the body. Alas! 
there are malicious and greedy spirits. There are 
selfish and hateful ones. All such exist in the uni- 
verse; in this universe we find ourselves, and in 
this universe we must live. 

What shall we do then? Will it do any good 
to say, ''I will not be a Spiritualist, for I will ha^'e 
nothing to do with Spirituahsm?" Offshoots of 
the Infinite Spirit, destined to continue to be indi- 
vidual spirits forever and ever, there is but one 
safe path for us to tread. Let us each one, for 



Why she became a Spiritualist. 29 

ourself, aspire to be a good spirit. If that be our 
true wish, evil or undeveloped spirits cannot harm 
us, nor drag us down to their level. All spiritual 
existence is destined by eternal force and law to 
progress. If we aspire for ourselves, and at the 
same time, reach down the helping hand to those 
below us, we aid them to rise, and, in so doing, 
we further our own advancement. Our disem- 
bodied friends who are aspirational know this and 
practise this, and by imitating their example, we 
shall become better fitted to join them by and by, 
when, by the gateway of death, we shall enter the 
freer life beyond. 



30 Why she became a Spiritualist. 



TRIUMPH. 



Shout ! for the morning breaks. 

Rosy and clear and bright ; 
A glory touches the sleeping lakes ; 
The valleys are bathed in light ; 
The great world stirs at last, 
Putting its bonds away ! 
Out of the shadowy ages past 
Cometh a golden day ! 

Echo it, rivers and rills ! 

Herald it, steeples and spires ! 
Kindle anew on a thousand hills 
X,iberty's beacon fires ! 

A long and dread eclipse 

Has held the world in thrall, 
And pressed unto feeble and fainting lips 

The wormwood and the gall ; 
But out of the depths, a voice 

Is saying, "I^et there be light ! " 
O waiting souls, behold ! rejoice ! 

The mountains are capped with white. 
Echo it, rivers and rills ! 

Herald it, steeples and spires ! 
Kindle anew on a thotisand hills 
Liberty's beacon fires ! 

They broke the arms of the weak. 

And strengthened the hands that were strong. 
Exalted the proud, and humbled the meek, 

And deluged the land with wrong ; 
But lo ! in the Coming Age, 

The Beautiful Dawning Day, 
Shall deeds of love and mercy engage — 
Haste to prepare the way ! 
Echo it, rivers and rills ! 

Herald it steeples and spires ! 
Kindle anew on a thousand hills 
I^iberty's beacon fires ! " 

Mary F. Tucker, 

Omro, Wisconsin. 



LECTURE 11. 

WHAT IS THE GOOD OF SPIRITUALISM? 

How shall we best answer this question? For, 
<'What good will it do?" is a question that must be 
met, in this age, in regard to every new proposition, 
and every 'ism of this prolific nineteenth century. 
When the human mind was in its infancy, such 
questions were not raised, for man had not then be- 
gun to inquire into the end and aim of existence. 

Let us watch a Httle child for a moment. Awak- 
ing from the deep, refreshing sleep of healthful 
babyhood, the play impulse seizes him; and under 
the tuition of Mother Nature, he vigorously uses 
his limbs, and thus develops his physical powers. 
Becoming hungry, he asks or seeks for food, and 
satisfies eagerly his craving for something to fill the 
aching void. He plays and eats, and when weary 
he falls asleep, and Nature recuperates the little 
system for new efforts and new development. To 
play, to eat, to sleep, fills the round of his unthink- 
ing little life. He has no governing purpose, save 
to follow each impulse as it arises; no end to attain, 
save to satisfy each desultory desire. His immature 
brain is not puzzled by the question, "What is the 



32 Why she became a Spiritualist. 

good of all this?" As it was with this little unde- 
veloped child, so was it with the human race in 
general, in the earlier stages of its development. 

But look at the little fellow by and by, when he 
has reached a more advanced stage of life. To ful- 
fil a momentary impulse, to satisfy a temporary 
physical craving, is not enough for him now. More 
thoughtful grown, he asks such questions as "What 
am I really living for? What course of action will 
help me best to attain my ends? How will it be with 
me when I come to die?" He who was once a 
thoughtless little boy may turn out a practical phil- 
osopher, and inquire with Jeremy Bentham, "What 
course of conduct may accomplish the greatest good 
to the greatest number?" He may become a deep 
religious thinker, and inquire with the exalted and 
sublime Jonathan Edwards, "What line of life will 
make me most happy, never so many myriads of 
ages hence?" Such inquiries into the object of ex- 
istence beset the human race as they enter more 
advanced stages of development. 

In earlier ages, man lived at hap-hazard, as it 
were. Each man got what he could, made the most 
of it for himself and his family, and expected his 
neighbor to do the same. Opinions and thoughts 
travelled very slowly from one tribe to another. 
As life became more settled, and the struggle to 
Jiold his own became less severe, he had more time 
to think, and began to theorize. If the theory 



Why she became a Spiritualist. 33 

sounded well, he was content, whether it could be 
carried into practice or not. But in our wonderful 
age, especially in countries like our own where we 
are free to carry all reasonable plans into execution, 
when any scheme is suggested, or any new belief is 
proposed, the question at once arises, "Is it practic- 
able?" i\nd if it be practicable, then the questions 
are, "What good will it do? Will it help the in- 
dividual man? Will it help the race?" 

In this last decade of the nineteenth century, 
Spiritualism is forced to the front. Many are in- 
quiring about its proofs, its claims, and its objects. 
With its amazing claims and disclosures, Spiritual- 
ism must stand or fall according to its relation to the 
progress of man as a unit, and of man as one of a 
countless number of human beings. 

And, friends, we must settle this question as to 
the good of Spiritualism, each one for himself. The 
time has gone by when men can allow other per- 
sons to do their thinking for them, -on vital questions 
of heart and Hfe. Our ancestors in the last century 
were taught to find the solution of the most import- 
ant questions regarding life, both here and hereafter, 
in the statements made in the Catechism. At that 
time it was thought very wicked to question the 
dicta of the Thirty-nine Articles; and Thomas Paine, 
a true patriot, a logical thinker, and a devout wor- 
shipper of God, was damned from every pulpit in 
Christendom, because he claimed that reason was 



34 Why she became a Spiritualist. 

above priestly authority. And the time is fast slip- 
ping away into the "dead past" for even members 
of "Orthodox" churches, in good and regular stand- 
ing, to allow their ministers to do their thinking for 
them, fortified though those ministers may be by a 
book, the last word of which was written nearly two 
thousand years ago, and yet claimed by them to con- 
tain the very last word that God will ever give to 
the human race. 

Irrespective of church dogmas and pastoral au- 
thority, the vital question for each one of us is, 
"What good is Spiritualism?" If Spiritualism is 
good for man as an individual, and for the human 
race, it will be accepted, it will universally prevail, 
though apprehensive clergy and timid parishioners 
fear that it be the veriest exhalation from the lowest 
deep of hell, and that those who accept it will be 
consigned to a very bad place therein. 

Well, dear friends, if w^e do find ourselves in hell 
on leaving the body, w^e shall be there because we 
shall deserve to be there, for our own ill deeds, and 
not because the clergy sent us there. And, thanks 
to the reasonable information given us by Spiritual- 
ism, we shall know that we are not to remain there 
forever, but shall in time have an opportunity to 
work out of that condition. 

We alluded a few minutes ago to Jeremy Ben- 
tham and Jonathan Edwards. Living near the same 
time, though the English philosopher was but ten 



Why she became a Spiritualist. 35 

years old when the American metaphysician passed 
to spirit life, they represent two quite different 
schools of thought. The underlying principle of 
Edwards was, "Be good, and you will be happy;" 
while Bentham virtually said, "Be happy, and then 
you will be good." 

Which was right? My friends, both were right. 
They only had a little different way of looking at 
the same thing, and of attaining the same end. 
Happiness and goodness sprang wedded from the 
bosom of Infinite Life, and hand in hand will they 
forever walk. No divorce court can ever sunder 
the bond that joins them. In this case at least, 
"What God hath joined together, no man can put 
asunder." Goodness and happiness grow together 
on the stem of the tree of life, and their growth is 
without flaw, without decay, and without end. 

Bentham founded the Utilitarian school. Like 
that of Aristotle, his moral philosophy was for this 
world alone, and he did not aim to be particularly 
spiritual or religious. He looked for the greatest 
happiness for the largest number of persons. Sharp, 
ringing, and forceful blows did he strike on many an 
iniquitous though time-sanctioned law of old Eng- 
land. In that field he worked, and most of the im- 
provements in legislation are due to the application 
of his principle that the best results come to man- 
kind by increasing the individual happiness of as 
many persons as possible. 



36 Why she became a Spiritualist. 

Jonathan Edwards, on the other hand, was brought 
up under the most rigid influences of New England 
Puritanism. Duty, with him, was Heaven's first 
law. His piety was deep and pure, his one purpose 
was to make the very best of the eternal existence 
vouchsafed to him, his intellect was clear, compre- 
hensive, profound, and strong. Before he was 
twenty years of age, he had composed for the guid- 
ance of his life seventy resolutions, which seem to 
us the most remarkable exhibition of deep moral 
character ever manifested by one so young. And 
yet, though steeped in Puritanism, indoctrinated 
from infancy with the idea of duty, rigidly held 
in by the tenets of the old theology, we find 
that the first of these seventy resolutions is as 
follows : 

"Resolved, that I will do whatsoever I think to be 
most to the glory of God and my own good, -profit 
and -pleasure^ in the whole of my duration, whether 
now, or never so many myriads of ages hence." 

In spite of stern theology, Edwards sought for 
happiness, because he saw clearly that goodness and 
happiness were one. A thousand circumstances of 
life, as well as the broad Atlantic, separated Ed- 
wards and Bentham in earth life. Had they met 
here, doubtless in the eyes of the other, Edwards 
would have seemed stern, dogmatic, and narrow; 
and Bentham, worldly, superficial, and insincere. 
But in spirit life, the walls that might have separ- 



Why she became a Spiritualist. 37 

ated them are prostrate, and their souls can touch 
each other at many points. 

Well, it being conceded that goodness and happi- 
ness are what we ought to seek, it remains to be 
considered how they are to be attained, and whether 
Spiritualism is in its nature adapted to further these 
important ends. 

The main questions with us as reasonable beings 
are, "How may we become good, in order that we 
may be happy?" and "How may we become happy, 
in order that it may be easy for us to be good?" 
To answer these, we must find out our true nature, 
and the possibilities of that nature. 

Let us first consider the question of happiness, of 
which no less a thinker than Pope has said, 

"O Happiness, our being's end and aim!" 

It seems to us that real happiness depends on a 
true and complete development of all our powders. 
Well, what is it to develop anything? Is it not to 
unfold to greater and yet greater perfection the germ 
within ? 

We do not now enquire whence that germ came. 
The existence of Infinite Being, that permeates every 
atom of physical space, and every individualized 
spiritual entity, will form the subject of a subsequent 
lecture. But to avoid being misunderstood, we sim- 
ply say in passing that in our opinion David was 
voicing an exalted spirit of long experience and wide 
observation in spirit life, when he said, "The fool 



38 Why she became a Spiritualist. 

hath said In his heart there is no God." A foolish 
thought indeed, and one that better be hid away in 
silence and secrecy, as a thing to be ashamed of! 

The germ of which we speak is within each one 
of us; and the answer to the first question in our 
catechism is, "Man's chief end is to develop to the 
utmost the original germ of his being." That germ 
is an offshoot of infinite life, and has enfolded in it 
infinite possibilities. These possibilities are not 
added to it subsequently from the outside world, but 
they are enfolded in the original germ; for, as 
George Dana Boardman has felicitously remarked, 
"You cannot unroll what was not inrolled; you can- 
not unfold w^hat was not infolded; you cannot de- 
velop what w^as not enveloped." And we will sup- 
plement his statement by saying that there are in- 
finite possibilities in each individual entity, because 
it is originally and perpetually a part of infinite life. 

In the process of being, there are two distinct 
actions : first, the act by which the germ is individ- 
ualized; and, second, the act of development, by 
which that germ is gradually, and, in spiritual exis- 
tences, perpetually unfolded. With regard to the 
first act, the original separation of that germ from 
the infinite source, we are not deahng at present. 
We are now considering the second part of the pro- 
cess, that of development; and our object is to show 
that unhindered development produces the extreme 
of happiness. 



Why she became a Spiritualist. 39 

Enshrined as we are, at present, in our physical 
bodies, let us give a few moments' thought to phy- 
sical development. What are its main conditions? 
Are they not freedom, nutriment, heat, and light? 
There are other essential features of perfect growth, 
but as these are the most patent, we will speak 
specially of them. 

All physically organized beings, whether plants 
or animals, are made chiefly of carbon, hydrogen, 
oxygen, and nitrogen. With these are combined 
other elements of matter, according to the constitu- 
tion of the organism. These elements come to 
them dissolved in water, or in the atmosphere, and 
they must be supplied in ample measure to make 
them grow and live happily. If supplied in scanty 
measure, they languish; if wholly deprived of them, 
they die. Abundant nutriment of the sort that is 
suited to their individuality, they must have. 

But nutriment is not enough. A certain amount 
of heat, conditioned to their kind, is also necessary. 
And light from the central orb of the physical solar 
system is needful, and in connection Adth that solar 
light comes the magnetic force which plays so im- 
portant a part in every form of physical existence. 

But there is another thing the plant and animal 
must have, besides nutrition, heat, and light. It 
must have freedom, in order to make use of the 
other conditions to good advantage, and arrive at 
the perfection that was involved in its original germ. 



40 Why she became a Spiritualist. 

Shut a plant up in a confined alley, where it has 
but little air and light. The soil is poor and dry. 
It grows, to be sure, for there is life in it. But it is 
pale and puny. Transplant it to a meadow, warmed 
in the sun and refreshed by the breeze, give it 
moisture, and its life seems renewed. The little 
plant is now happy, and it becomes a thing of beauty, 
for its development is unhindered. 

It is the same with the bird and the animal. 
Do you think that your little canary, hatched aud 
bred in a cage, deprived of freedom, can be the 
glad, beautiful thing that sports in the groves of 
the Fortunate Isles of the Atlantic Ocean .^^ You 
give it enough to eat, you hang its little prison 
in the sun, and let refreshing zephyrs breathe on 
it. But there is one thing wanting to the com- 
plete and happy development of your little pet. 
Freedom is wanting. You try to make it happy 
and the little thing is happy to a degree, for it 
does not know what freedom is. But its being 
is undeveloped. It is not the bird it might have 
been if all the conditions of perfect growth had 
been supplied, though it is not sad, for it knows 
no better existence. 

Neither did you, my Spiritualist friend, feel sad, 
twenty-five or thirty years ago, when you were 
nested in the Methodist, or Baptist, or Presbyterian 
church. You did not then know what freedom was. 
So you were contented, though freedom, as well as 



Why she became a Spiritualist. 41 

several other conditions of perfect development, were 
noL supplied to you. 

But a sadder thing than a caged canary is a bird 
who was once free, but who is recaged, either by 
force, or by its own timidity. If you are afraid, 
little bird, to come out of your cage, lay aside your 
fear. Come out, try your wings, and you will find 
a boundless expanse of Hght and air that will supply 
all you need. Timid human soul, come out of your 
cage too, and you will find that the spirit of Infinite 
Good will not send you to an everlasting and burn- 
ing hell, because you try to develop your spiritual 
powers, with the freedom that he intended you to 
enjoy when he gave you life. And if force hold 
3'ou in your cage, poor struggling human soul, and 
iron circumstances wall you in, remember that after 
all it is only your body that your tyrants can hold. 
Chains can bind the body, but not the spirit. Even 
if the bondage hold you all your earth-Hfe, a time 
Avill come w^hen 3'our soul wall leave the enswathing 
clay, and enjoy its heavenly birth-right, perfect free- 
dom, w^here 

"Heaven's long day of bliss will pay 
For all God's children suffer here." 

But to return from this digression, though a di- 
gression growing naturally from the subject, we 
were saying that the main conditions of physical de- 
velopment w^ere nutrition, freedom, heat, and light. 
Is it not deducible that mental and spiritual develop- 
ment require analogical conditions? We think so. 



42 Why she became a Spiritualist. 

from the natural relation that exists between the 
physical and the psychical worlds. Swedenborg 
points out the correspondences between the two 
states; Spinoza acutely maintains that the relations 
between thoughts are precisely the same as the re- 
lations between things; and the master idealist of 
them all, the almost divine Plato, has told us that 
the physical world is the shadow of the soul world. 
We shall therefore infer that spiritual entities, 
whether embodied or disembodied, require for their 
full development, such nutrition, freedom, heat, and 
light as will be adapted to the psychic state. 

Now, bearing in mind that perfect development is 
the same as perfect happiness, it remains to show 
that Spiritualism gives to the soul of man just the 
elements required for a true and perpetual growth. 
Developing aright will make us happy; and as hap- 
piness and goodness are one, we shall in that pro- 
cess be so very happy that it will be easy for us to 
be good. In fine, if Spiritualism supply the best 
conditions for soul growth, it w^ill make us happy 
and good at the same time; and will be the philoso- 
phy, or the religion, or whatever you may choose 
to call it, for human souls eternally. 

Let us see how this is. To begin aright, what is 
a human being? He is while in the body composed 
of body, soul, and spirit, to use the language of 
Paul: he is composed of physical body, spiritual 
body, and soul, according to the language of many 



Why she became a Spiritualist. 43 

Spiritualists. Words are however unimportant, 
provided we each understand what the other means. 
Now, we maintain that as the body develops, the 
mind develops, and the soul as well, under appro- 
priate conditions. One of the errors of the old 
theology was the assumption that the physical and 
the spiritual parts of our composite being are gov- 
erned by different laws. Those who accepted the 
old theology acknowledged the development of the 
physical body from a germ. But, in regard to our 
spiritual part, these theologians claimed a very dif- 
ferent process. They believed that the soul w^as 
originally created wholly perfect and good, without 
attaining this condition by development. Then this 
perfect and good soul/ell from its high estate, and 
after this, needed to be regenerated, or, in other 
words, to be made all over again. And their reason 
for adopting this reversal of the usual and natural 
and reasonable processes of nature lay in certain 
declarations made in the sacred writings of an an- 
cient branch of the Semitic race. To these hamp- 
ered persons, it seems useless to point out the un- 
reasonableness of their tenets. "The Bible sa3^s 
so." That settles it, according to their notion of 
things, for the Bible is their fetish. That it was 
written under spirit influence 1800 to 4000 3^ears 
ago, that it was written by and for another branch 
of the human race from our own, that it was handed 
down by manuscripts copied by nobody knows 



44 Why she became a Spiritualist. 

whom till the middle of the fifteenth century, that 
it contains contradictions and errors mingled with 
much that is good, all go for nothing with these 
credulous adorers of ancient writings. If they can 
find a passage in proof of their dogma, the dogma 
must be true. "It is unreasonable," we say to them. 
"It is a mystery," they reply. "This statement 
cmi^t be true," we tell them. "You'll be damned 
for doubting it," is their triumphant answer. How 
is it possible for the soul to develop in reasoning 
power, when hampered by such fetters? 

Spiritualists claim that the spiritual nature is sub- 
ject to the same laws of development as the physi- 
cal part of man. We maintain that our trinal na- 
ture, physical body, spiritual body, and soul, comes 
from a germ. This germ, issuing from the fountain 
of eternal perfection, is essentially and eternally good; 
and, w^hile dropping w^hatever it may outgrow, will 
continue to advance, forever and forever. But, be- 
ing individualized, no matter how long the process 
be continued, it will of course never attain to infinite 
being, from w^hich it came. This application of de- 
velopment from a germ to the spiritual part of man 
is reasonable and natural. It is worthy therefore of 
an infinitely reasonable being, whose acts are the 
expression of those natural laws of which that being 
is the author. 

Now, does Spiritualism help the development of 
our bodies, of our spirits, and of our souls? If its 



Why she became a Spiritualist. 45 

tendency be in that direction, the system is needed 
by man, and must be true. First, then, what is the 
effect of Spirituahsm on the body? 

A true and nobly developed Spiritualist rever- 
ences his body, because it is the terr.porary home of 
his spirit, and the proper growth of his spiritual body 
depends largely on the condition of the physical. 
Know^ing the interdependence of the two, he follows 
the laws of health. But knowing that this perish- 
able part of his being is subordinate to his spirit and 
soul, he keeps the body under. The soul is always 
dominant over the flesh. The carnal appetites hav- 
ing for their object the nourishment of the body and 
the propagation of the race, he keeps to their true 
end. He does not allow the gratification of these 
appetites to interfere with the growth of his better 
part, his immortal nature. 

What! a Spirituahst, and eat too much, or eat 
improper food, because it tastes good! What! a 
Spiritualist, and a moderate drinker of alcoholic li- 
quids, that coagulate the brain and impede the ex- 
pression of his immortal soul! What! a Spiritualist, 
and a sensualist, in the married state, or out of it! 
We have not so learned Spiritualism. 

Keep the body healthy, pure, temperate, and 
magnetic. Then, whether you are a materializing 
medium or not, whether you can produce indepen- 
dent slate-writing, or not, you can make your tem- 
porary, physical body a fit temple for your precious 



46 Why she became a Spiritualist. 

immortal part; and you cait become sensitive to the 
highest spiritual intelligences. Being that kind of a 
Spiritualist, the physical body will be in harmony 
with the happy development of the physical and 
spiritual part of that composite being we call 
man. 

To promote growth of the spirit, the correspon- 
dence between the physical and the spiritual world 
leads us to infer that the same conditions obtain in 
spirit as we pointed out as necessary to -physical 
development; viz., nourishment, freedom, heat, and 
light. If these develop the germ of physically or- 
ganized bodies to their perfection, may we not ex- 
pect that analogical conditions will develop soul 
germs to the extent possible to that sort of exis- 
tence? The only difference will be that as physical 
organisms are temporary, they develop to perfec- 
tion, and then give place to new ones. But, as the 
spirit is immortal, its perfection is not subject to 
limitations, and will continue ad infinitum. 

Well, what nourishment is suited to the needs of 
the soul? 

Knowledge will feed the soul and cause it to ex- 
pand. How is this knowledge to be attained? Is 
the highest knowledge to come to us from beings 
who are hampered by the same physical fetters as 
ourselves? Clearly, the best teachers for us will 
he those who were once children of the earth like 
ourselves, but who, having been freed from the 



Why she became a Spiritualist. 47 

ilesh, have soared to the natural home of the spirit, 
the glorious spirit world beyond the oxygen and 
nitrogen of this terrestrial atmosphere. Brought 
into contact there with spirits who have long dwelt 
there, and yet linked to us by near remembrances 
and ties of love, these freed souls can bring to us 
the knowledge of the life beyond that will de- 
velop our souls aright. Our thoughts will expand, 
w^e shall see the true aim of existence, and we shall 
get glimpses of the ideal beauty, truth, and good- 
ness, which are the eternal realities of the universe. 
The best that the world knows has come to us from 
those ideal realms. Drops have come to us from 
those eternal springs that have vitalized the thought 
of the world; and if these drops are such, what must 
the fountain be ! Let us open our souls to spiritual 
refreshment, and let them grow. 

But suppose the little plant had nourishment 
enough, and yet was shut up in a glass box and thus 
deprived of freedom. It needs room to grow. Do 
not let us box up our souls, and thus prevent the 
truths from the spirit world from enlarging our soul 
nature. Let us drop the shackles of creedal bond- 
age. Let us dare to trust Infinite Love, and In- 
finite Goodness, and Infinite Knowledge. Let us 
not allow old prejudices, nor dread of an artificial 
and wrathful god, to bind our souls in servile chains. 
Let us cast away fear and mistrust, those shackles 
of the soul. Did you think that God could be angry 



4S Why she became a Spiritualist. 

with you, that He needed to be propitiated towards 
you? You were misinformed. Believe in beauty, 
truth, and goodness. Believe in them, and then 
aspire after such a share of them as your nature is 
able to appropriate. By and by, when you have 
assimilated the present portion, your soul will 
have grown, so that you can appropriate yet 
more. Thus your soul plant will climb towards 
the infinite. 

Besides nourishment and freedom, the physical 
organism requires heat and light. Is there a heat 
and a light appropriate to soul growth? 

The warmth that is essential to material organ- 
ized existence finds its correspondence in the spirit 
world in the love that binds all together. Our souls 
live because Infinite Being is love. A spirit leans 
in love and helpfulness to one who is less developed, 
it clings in confiding and appropriating love to one 
who is more advanced. 

"Love is the golden chain that binds 

The happy souls above; 
And he's an heir of heaven that finds 

His bosom glow with love." 

And is light an essential of soul growth? We do 
not believe as the old religionists that God sits on a 
throne of light unapproachable and remote. We 
know God is infinite life, and that it is everywhere. 
But we also know that a soul, embodied or disem- 
bodied, which sees immortal realities more clearly, 
has a corresponding increase of that light which is 



Why she became a Spiritualist. 49 

a condition of its development. Some one has 
beautifully said, 

"God dwelleth in a light far beyond human ken, 
Become thyself that light, and thou shalt see him then." 

We say, less poetically, but more truthfully, that 
as we become more beautiful, true, and good, we 
are not getting any nearer to God, for God was a 
part of us before, and will always be a part of us ; 
but, as we become more beautiful, true, and good, 
we are climbing up to that infinite beauty, truth, and 
goodness, the germ of which was laid in our origi- 
nal individualization. As we see more clearly, as 
we love more profoundly, we shall approximate the 
condition which is "most for our own good, pleas- 
ure, and profit, whether now, or never so many 
myriads of ages hence." 



50 Why she became a Spiritualist. 



FROM "THK SEASONS. 



Should fate command me to the farthest verge 
Of the green earth, to distant barbarous climes, 
Rivers unknown to song; where first the sun 
Gilds Indian mountains, or his setting beam 
Flames on the Atlantic isles, 'tis nought to me, 
Since God is ever present, ever felt, 
In the wide waste as in the city full, 
And where He vital dwells, there must be joy. 

When e'en at last the solemn hour shall come, 

And wing my mystic flight to the Spirit-world, 

I cheerful will obey; there with new powers, 

Will rising wonders sing. Where'er I go, 

'Tis universal I^ove that smiles around. 

Sustaining all yon orbs, and all their suns; 

From seeming evil still educing good. 

And better thence again, and better still. 

In infinite progression. But I lose 

Mj^self in Him, in light ineffable ! 

Come, then, expressive silence, muse his praise. 



James Thomson (Altered.) 



LECTURE III. 

DO SPIRITUALISTS BELIEVE IN GOD? 

There are many cultured, refined, and intelligent 
persons who become interested in the disclosures 
of Spiritualism, but, being devout both by nature 
and by education, they are repelled from further in- 
vestigation by finding that some Spiritualists say 
that they do not beheve in God. When making so 
sweeping a statement, we could wish that such 
Spiritualists would explain in what sense they do 
not believe in God. If they would tell what kind of 
a God they do not believe in, and not be quite so 
afraid of a word because of its wrong applications, 
they would not cast opprobrium on Spiritualists by 
declaring that they themselves are atheists. They 
are so afraid of being hampered by church beliefs 
that the word God has become obnoxious to them. 
But the most radical persons must acknowledge that 
there is power and life in the universe. If any pre- 
fer to call that power God, we think it is their right 
to do so. Do not let us claim to be radicals, and 
then fight about a word. All reasonable beings 
know that there is something that makes the uni- 
verse go. The dear apostle of "sweetness and light" 

51 



52 Why she became a Spiritualist. 

declared that there is a "power not ourselves that 
makes for righteousness." If a good Spiritualist 
wishes to call that something by the name God, why, 
my dear belligerent radical friend, do you scorn him 
for so doing? Must we discard a good word, be- 
cause the so-called Orthodox people attach a wrong 
conception to that word? Let us rather teach them 
a higher and larger conception of its meaning, and 
lead them by sweet attractive power to embrace the 
light and the glory and the beauty of Spiritualism. 

We admit that there are some Spirituahsts who 
are so absorbed in the affairs of this world that the 
spirit-world to them is precisely like this one. The 
most progressed spirits seem to them just like them- 
selves. Such men are not aspirational, for they are 
unconscious of anything beyond them that they as- 
pire to reach. Such Spiritualists may have to linger 
long in the border-land, after leaving the body. 
But, thanks to the power that does make for righte- 
ousness, they will in time soar to a nobler clime. 

Spiritualism embraces all grades of intellectuality;, 
and, within certain well-defined limits, all shades of 
belief. As in Geology we find that many strata 
make the rocky surface of the earth, so we find all 
grades of Spiritualists. Some Spiritualists express 
themselves by the Indian ghost dance, or by the 
wild frenzies of negroes in process of conversion. 
Shakers, who claim that they are the "most radical 
Spiritualists of the day," practice a monotonous 



Why she became a Spiritualist. 53 

dance that makes them accessible to spirit influences. 
Others engage in the rapt spiritual converse of a 
Swedenborg, and the lofty idealism of a Zschokke 
or a Plato. To the external observer, there does 
not seem to be much resemblance between these 
different grades. But something does unite them. 
Each knows of a power outside of the physical, 
whose influence he feels. Each believes that spirit 
is regnant over matter, and that the body is subordi- 
nate to the mind. Each seeks to be freed from the 
bonds of the physical man, and to enter the domain 
of the spirit. Each knows that outside and beyond 
the flesh is spirit; and they know of spirit power, 
because they experience it. 

Spirituahsts believe in spirit forces. But, do they 
believe in God? To answer, we must settle the 
meaning of the two terms in the question, — Spiritu- 
alist, and God. We treated of the first in a previ- 
ous lecture. A Spiritualist is not a Materialist. He 
knows that there is an immaterial part, that can and 
will exist without the material body; and, being 
capable of doing so, wijl probably continue to exist 
forever. Let us then examine the second term in 
the question, and see what is meant by "God," as 
the word is used by devout Spiritualists. 

To begin with, there is a wide difference between 
the term "God," and the expression "A God," so 
often in the mouth of church people. Do thinking 
Spiritualists believe in "a God?" Certainly not. A, 



54 Why she became a Spiritualist. 

the indefinite article, is an adjective. It is placed 
before singular nouns denoting an individual object, 
and before collective nouns. Is God either of these, 
according to any church definition? The idea of 
infinity being alwa^^s attached to the word God, we 
see what an absurdity it is to talk about "A God." 
Not long ago, we heard a church member say, "I 
don't believe in a God who will not punish sin for- 
ever." 

How is God defined in the Westminster Cate- 
chism? That famous assembly of divines met at the 
Abbey, eleven hundred and sixty-three times be- 
tween 1643 and 1649, for the purpose of formulating 
into words what people should believe and what 
they should not believe. A remarkable fact is that 
at that very time the spirit world was making their 
first great united effort to communicate with mortals, 
but thousands of their poor mediums were tortured 
and murdered as "witches." The Long Parliament 
issued decrees condemning what they were pleased 
to call witchcraft, in the same years that they sum- 
moned these divines to construct the "Shorter Cate- 
chism" and the "Larger Catechism." One of the 
first problems to be wrestled with was the definition 
of God. The opening words of the prayer uttered 
by the youngest divine present were adopted by the 
convention as their definition of God. "God is a 
being, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable, in his be- 
ing, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and 



Why she became a Spiritualist. 55 

truth." Time was when this attempt to define the 
infinite seemed perfect to us. But a larger outlook 
has shown its imperfections. Fme as it is as an in- 
tellectual effort, it still speaks of infinity as "a being." 
And we doubt the propriety of applying attributes 
to Infinite Being, though these attributes be said to 
be illimitable. From our present standpoint, the 
simpler, but more comprehensive statement, "God 
is bemg," is to be preferred. 

The word used by the Hebrews to express God 
is therefore founded on a correct idea. Thei" word 
Jehovah is said to include the notion of past, present 
and future existence; and to be derived f rem their 
word "I am," which meant "I always was, I now 
am, and I always shall be." This is admirable, and 
illustrates the fact that the great Semitic race be- 
lieved in Infinite God, w^hile the Aryans adopted the 
more narrow conception of a personal God. Still 
the expression "I am," as applied to Infinity, only 
shows the poverty of language. For, who is I.^ Is 
I a person.'^ Impossible, for personality implies 
.limitation. We can speak oi a person. "Being," 
a participial noun, derived from the verb to be, as 
impersonal as the infinitive mode itself, is better 
adapted to express the conception of a Spiritualist. 
And when by the word God we really mean infinite 
being, then as Spiritualists, w^e do believe in God. 

Having alluded to that strikingly individualized 
branch of the Semitic race, the Hebrews, we will 



56 Why she became a Spiritualist. 

add that though their word for Infinite Being repre- 
sents a broad conception, they soon dropped the 
true meaning. Contradicting the notion expressed 
by the original word, they narrowed down the glori- 
ous idea of infinity, an idea of course beyond all 
space and time. Instead of that grand ideal, they 
began to worship a special personal individuality of 
the spirit world. This tutelar divinity was thought 
by them to have selected the Jews out from all 
other nations for his special favorites. Prejudiced 
by a blind partiality for them, this Hebrew god took 
frightful vengence on their enemies by the weapons 
of the Jews. Sometimes he employed the powers 
ot nature, and slew thousands by pestilence, or en- 
gulfed tribes in a flood of water, because these Gen- 
tiles were hurtful to his darling Jews. As their 
tutelar divinity intended that they should have 
Canaan for themselves, because it was the most fer- 
tile country then known, the original inhabitants, 
who had occupied it from the time that Noah's 
grandson Canaan went there, must be extermi- 
nated. Bravely did they fight for home and native 
land. But they were slaughtered, men, women 
and children. Even the poor beasts were killed. 
And so maniacal was this Hebrew divinity in his 
determination to murder the rifrhtful owners of Pal- 
estine, that if any Hebrew showed a wish to spare 
any-Canaanite, he was also to be killed as a rebel. 
One king, who tried to save his inherited lands, had 



Why she became a Spiritualist. 57 

his thumbs and great toes cut off by these Jews. 

This cruel deity of the Jews was jealous if ^lis 
people showed the slightest symptoms of doing 
homage to the gods of other tribes. From the thick 
clouds of Mount Sinai in eruption, he was said to 
have thundered forth, "I, the Lord thy God, am a 
jealous God." This kind of "a God" got angry on 
occasion, and had to be pacified by the slaughter of 
thousands of innocent animals, every year. Two 
poor little lambs, males, without blemish, less than a 
year old, were put to the knife every day in the 
3^ear, to keep the god in a friendly state of mind. 
From the time this daily sacrifice began, about 1491 
B. C, till the Romans stopped it when they cap- 
tured Jerusalem, in ^o A. D., counting out the 
seventy years captivity, when the poor little inno- 
cents had a respite, there were slain in the taber- 
nacle and temple service, the enormous number of 
730 lambs a year, and for the whole period, 1,088,- 
430 lambs. Many more animals, and birds as well, 
were yearly sacrificed to this Jewish Moloch. And 
to put the cap-sheaf to these bloody sacrifices, the 
Jews of a later time, who took Jesus to be the onl}- 
son of this deity, claimed that none of any nation 
whatever, whether Jews or Gentiles, could possibly 
escape an eternal and burning hell, unless this same 
only son should be killed by having his blood shed. 
My friends, in such a god as this, the true Spiritual- 
ist does not believe. 



58 Why she became a Spiritualist. 

Still, the strong individuality of a Jew, powerfully 
expressed by his conception of God, whose worship 
he so persistently carried on for fifteen hundred 
years, has kept his race from sinking and merging 
into other nations. 

Though the Jewish nation was politically de- 
stroyed nineteen hundred years ago, a Jew to-day 
is as individual as ever. The sublime egotism that 
was stamped on the race, when Abraham, under 
spirit guidance, went to a strange land, to found a 
great nation, still clings to the character of a Jew. 
His very narrowness and care for his own interests 
has kept him alive. Crushed to the wall during the 
Dark Ages, forbidden to own land and settle down 
like his neighbors, he was forced to devote his 
energies to money making. Money and jewels 
were portable commodities, and were eagerly sought 
for by these poor exiles from Palestine. That a 
passion for greed was developed in them was due to 
the cruelty of nations who claimed to be Christian, 
Worshipping as deity a Jew from Nazareth, claim- 
ing for themselves a Bible, every book in which was 
written by arjew, they treated the remnants of the 
countrymen of Jesus most unjustly and most cruelly. 
But outrages from the outside world made them 
cling to one another more closely. A strict adher- 
ence to the laws of Moses, in regard to diet and 
sanitary conditions, kept the Jewish physique at a 
high point. Wherever the Jew is, an innate force 



Why she became a Spiritualist. 59 

and vigor brings him to the front. When restricted 
to money making, he does that better than anything 
else. Where these restrictions are lessened, he has 
made a noble name, in literature, music, statesman- 
ship, and art. Three times in the history of the 
world has a Jew become the prime minister in what 
was at the time the greatest nation of the world. 
Joseph, a Hebrew slave, was put at the head of af- 
fairs in ancient Eg3^pt, 1500 B. C. In the sixth cen- 
tury before Christ, Daniel, a captive Jew, was made 
prime minister of Babylon, And in the nineteenth 
century after Christ, D'Israeli, a Jew, was twice 
made prime minister of Victoria, queen of England 
and named by him Empress of India. The shaping 
of the convention of nations at Berlin, in 1878, 
proved what a Jew could be in statesmanship, when 
freed from the binding chains of the Dark Ages. 

But, granting all this greatness and intellectual 
force to the Jew, we must yet admit that the pre- 
vailing erroneous conception of God came to us 
from his nation. The ancient Hebrews adored a 
partial, narrow deity, who was a selfish, jealous, pas- 
sionate tyrant, enlarged to superhuman dimensions, 
and Christendom has adopted the same. The Jew 
feared his god, and tried to placate him by many 
bloody sacrifices. The Christian world has followed 
suit, and adopted a god who could be placated to- 
wards the works of his own hands, only by the 
bloody sacrifice of his nearest relative. 



6o Why she became a Spiritualist. 

By the way, since coming into the enlarged views 
of Spiritualism, we have learned to wonder that 
thinking persons are so careless as to apply the 
words ''he" and "him" to Infinite Being. When 
we have applied the pronoun "he" to an intelligent 
entity, what have we done? We have conceived of 
that entity as being male. By that conception we 
have excluded the notion of female and of offspring, 
and if we are speaking of absolute being we have 
been guilty of the contradiction involved in placing 
a limitation on the Infinite. Conceiving of God as 
only father is trying to set bonds to Infinity. 

The Roman Christians have done better than 
this, for they have introduced the mother element. 
Their attempt is however a crude one. An infinite 
father (itself a contradiction of terms), a finite 
mother, a son both finite and infinite, and an infinite 
hoty ghost proceeding from both the father and the 
son! 

Friends, the simplest statements are the nearest 
to the truth. That the finite cannot comprehend 
the infinite is self-evident. In treating of what our 
minds cannot possibly comprehend, let us make the 
simplest statements, and let us use the simplest 
words. A multiplicity of notions and words clogs 
our conceptions. "Infinite being," incomprehensible 
to the finite mind, and yet bearing the stamp of sim- 
ple truth ! 

The original notion of God, entertained by the 



Why she became a Spiritualist. 6i 

Hebrews, of impersonal existence, past, present and 
future, was inherited from their Semitic ancestors. 
Moses, who wrote their earliest books, acquired his 
mental culture among the priests of Egypt. From 
these priests, he learned how to formulate the innate 
ideas of his people. 

To our mind, the ancient founders of the religion 
of Egypt were far in advance of modern church be- 
lief. They tried to bring before the mind their no- 
tion of infinite being as including the active princi- 
ple, the passive principle, and the result of the 
blending of the two. By these three separate 
principles, they expressed to the human mind 
all existence. These deep and early philosophers 
had true glimpses into spiritual being. We speak 
of them as early philosophers, though they them- 
selves claimed to be only the youthful inheritors of 
the learning of a far more ancient age. 

When Solon, "the greatest law-giver that was a 
poet, and the greatest poet that ever gave laws," 
visited Egypt, about 600 B. C, he went to learn 
from their priests. He was astonished by their 
deep philosophy, and said that the wisest men of 
Greece were only fit to sit at their feet. These 
Egyptian priests said that they themselves were but 
children, and that they had inherited their ideas from 
the philosophers of Atlantis, a sunken continent that 
lay under the vast waters west of the Mediterranean. 
Doubtless these pre-historic wise men of most 



62 Why she became a Spiritualist. 

ancient Atlantis may have been the original holders 
of those conceptions of the Absolute, which the 
esoteric priests of Egypt expressed by the three 
principles : active, passive, and result. In like man- 
ner, liberal theologians like Beecher, have sought to 
idealize the persons of the Trinity, and tried to savC 
themselves and their followers from the absurdity 
of a personal and yet infinite god, formed by a com- 
bination of three and yet infinite persons. 

Well, in the lapse of ages, these Egyptian priests 
sought to make the common people apprehend these 
three principles, by the special personifications: 
Osiris, father; Isis, mother; and Horus, son or re- 
sult. So then the common people of Egypt had 
three deities; though no doubt the priests, in their 
esoteric and spiritual circles, held to the worship of 
infinite being, manifested by the three principles. 
In process of time, many more deities were added, 
and a pagan idolatry was the result. The priests 
themselves deteriorated, and lost the conceptions of 
the early, pure religion. Infinite being was merged 
in many limited personalities, and the spiritual be- 
came material. * 

Moses, nine hundred years before Solon, learned 
in Egyptian lore, developed in spirit communion by 
forty years of shepherd life in Midian, seized the 
highest conception of God. His simple and sub- 
lime statement is that "In the beginning, God 
created the heaven and the earth." He conceived 



Why she became a Spiritualist. 63 

of God as spirit, and in successive visions he saw 
light take the place of darkness, and order supplant 
chaos. Coming to the beginning of man, Moses 
conceives of God as saying, "Let us make man in 
our image," thus recalHng the Egyptian idea of 
male, female, and offspring. Thus did he make the 
three principles preside at the beginning of the ma- 
terial creation. But the sublime conception of 
Moses, inherited from Semitic ancestry, and formu- 
lated by Egyptian teachers, degenerated with the 
later Jews into the wrathful conception delineated in 
the former part of this lecture. 

Fifteen hundred years later, another Jew, less 
sublime but more spiritual than Moses, tried to 
bring his nation out of the depths of formality and 
blasphem}/, to which they had degraded. This new 
seer announced the clear statement that "God is a 
spirit, and that they that worship him must worship 
him in spirit and in truth." Allowing for the pov- 
erty and the consequent limitations of language, 
Jesus of Nazareth certainly taught the spirituality 
of God, and a spiritual religion, compelling truth 
from its followers. Well would it have been for 
the world if the Christian church in ages since had 
really accepted and lived by his pure and simple 
teachings ! 

The formal Pharisees of that day hated the pre- 
cepts of the Galilean seer, while the materialistic 
Sadducees hated his doctrines. In our day, church 



64 Why she became a Spiritualist. 

Pharisees and materialistic sceptics hate the spiritual 
teachings that are the legitimate outcome of the 
precepts and the life of Jesus of Nazareth. We dis- 
tinctly make the claim that the persons in this age 
who best comprehend and best follow the real teach- 
ings of the Nazarene are pure and progressive 
Spiritualists. We do not now speak of gross, sen- 
sual, money-grasping Spiritualists, for they take the 
name and not the substance of true Spiritualism. 

Do true and progressive Spiritualists believe in 
God? They do believe in God. They do more. 
They know God, for they know that infinite life 
permeates every atom of matter, every organized 
physical being, whether plant or animal, as well as 
every individual, spiritual entity. Infinite life, infi- 
nite being ever creates new forms, and develops al- 
ready existing forms into higher states of advance- 
ment. 

Some constantly reiterate the formula, "God is 
good." They claim that God was named from his 
goodness, because god and good are spelled alike in 
Anglo-Saxon. But the words do not correspond in 
any other language. It is also unphilosophical to 
impute an attribute to infinity, thus excluding the 
opposite. "God is life" is better than "God is good." 
Life acts. Infinite life is progressive, for such is its 
inherent nature, not its attribute. Infinite life pro- 
gresses forever. We may call it by the name God, 
if we so choose. 



Why she became a Spiritualist. 65 

Need we fear God? Do we fear life? Certainly 
not. It is death, not life, that we fear. In infinite 
life, we live, and move, and have our ov/n finite 
being. We love the enthusiastic expression of Sir 
Thomas Browne, "Ready to be anything, in the 
ecstasy of being ever." During two centuries of 
what we call time, he has rejoiced in the freedom of 
disembodied existence. 

Life is positive. Death is negative. Life pro- 
gresses and becomes better. What was good in 
bygone ages is bad now. What we call good will 
be thought evil after we attain a more advanced 
state. Life is good, but the goodness is only com- 
parative, not absolute. 

Death stops improvement. It is negative. Goethe 
had a true thought when he made Mephistopheles 
acknowledge that he is the spirit that denies. He 
is not inherentl}^ evil, but he represents a condition 
in which good is undeveloped and remains negative, 
because life does not urge it to progression. When 
we speak of death here, of course we do not mean 
the death of the body, which only frees the spirit to 
go into a more glorious life. We mean simply the 
absence of life. Death is not God. God is life. 

How can we, finite beings, hampered by this phy- 
sical frame, get a glimpse of infinite life? Can we 
get it by looking through the two optical instru- 
ments we call our eyes at the physical objects of 
terrestrial creation? They bespeak a creative 



66 Why she became a Spiritualist. 

power to be sure. But looking at them is not 
looking at God. God is spirit, or the life that made 
and informs all physical objects. To get a glimpse 
of infinite spirit, we must look at the spirit that 
comes within our observation. What spirit is that? 
Assuredly our own spirit. Then, to get a glimpse 
of infinite spirit, we must look within. Let us 
study our own spirit, and then we see a finite por- 
tion of the infinite spirit, whose child we are. 

This looking within to examine the working of 
one's own spirit is not easy at first. We must sep- 
arate ourselves from the eternal world. In dark- 
ness, in quiet, in seclusion, we look within. We 
learn how active the mind is, we find that we can 
distinguish the mind from what the mind does, and 
we become conscious of the strange fact that it is 
the mind that examines its own self. David meant 
this when he said, "Commune with your own heart 
upon your bed and be still." The darkness and qui- 
et of night, the absolute seclusion created by being 
awake when others sleep, brought to him favorable 
conditions for mental study. Such mental intro- 
spection gives stronger proof of the independent 
existence of the mind than can be realized by those 
who live wholly in the outside world. The con- 
sciousness we gain of our own spirit existence aids 
us to realize the glorious fact of disembodied spirit 
existence, and prepares the way for getting some 
faint notion of infinite existence. . Instead of adoring 



Why she became a Spiritualist. 67 

a material God, as those unconsciously do who 
do not know spirit, we begin to worship the infinite 
spirit, "in spirit and in truth." 

Having perceived the finite spirit within our- 
selves, we endeavor to expand that conception to 
infinity, and we realize that we cannot see God; in 
fact, that we shall never see God. Does that make 
us fear? Is the little fish afraid, because it does 
not see, and never will see the whole of the great 
ocean in which it lives? 

Are we a part of God? Most certainly; for God 
is life, and we are alive. How are we alive? By 
God living in us. As a drop is a part of the ocean, 
and just as truly water as the ocean itself, so each 
of us is an individualized drop of life in the ocean 
of infinite life ? Need we fear that life? No! A 
thousand times no! Unspeakably happy are we 
that life is forevermore, and that we are a part of it. 

Infinite life, infinite being, is expressed by laws. 
A law is defined as "life in movement." In other 
w^ords, life in movement progresses according to 
law. It moves just right, and so the normal way of 
doing a thing is the beautiful way of doing it. To 
extend and intensify our own share of life, — physi- 
cal, mental, and spiritual, — we must study those 
laws, and adapt our actions and our mode of exis- 
tence to them. So doing, we have nothing what- 
ever to fear, we have everything to trust, and are 
the happiest persons that walk the earth. 



68 Why she became a Spiritualist. 

Our so-called Orthodox friends may say, "How 
can you dare to be happ}^, unless you have accept- 
ed the sacrifice of Christ, and know that your sins 
have been washed away in the blood of Jesus?" 

My friends, I know whereof I speak. I once 
believed in the limited, partial, wrathful, and unrea- 
sonable god of the old orthodoxy. I thought my 
nature was corrupt, that there was no good thing 
in me, that my corrupt nature was inherent in me, 
and that I had intensified it by millions of wrong 
thoughts, words, and deeds, and that my only hope 
was in having Jesus bear my sins, and save me by 
his blood. Even after I was convinced of the phe- 
nomena of Spiritualism, the old notions would recur, 
and make me wonder if I were on a sure founda- 
tion. I shall never forget the quiet hour when all 
alone, so far as mortals are concerned, but surround- 
ed by invisible influences, the mists were wholly 
rolled away. All false foundations, man made, but 
esteemed because long adopted, crumbled away, 
and my soul found the unchangeable rock on which 
to build for eternal existence. These truths came 
clearly to my mind. "I am alive, because of infinite 
life. I came out from that infinite fount of life. 
That infinite life moves by law. If I do not seek to 
find out those laws, and adapt my doings to them, 
it will not be well for me, I shall not get on. If I 
try to live by those laws of physical and spiritual 
life, I must be safe, and I must get on. Infinite life 



Why she became a Spiritualist. 69 

loves ; in other words, it desires all its creations to 
progress. I surely want to be good. That desire 
will draw aid from above. And what is true of me, 
is true of all." These considerations rest on no 
Bible, on no Savior. They apply to all men, of all 
nationalities, of all religions. They rest on the laws 
of being, and are to be depended on. This glorious 
knowledge removes all doubts, all fears. We float 
in an ocean of infinite life and infinite love. God is 
life. God is love. For love is life. God, love, life, 
the same, and infinite f orevermore ! 



" Mortals that would follow me, 
I^ove Virtue; she alone is free. 
She can teach you how to climb 
Far above yon sphery chime; 
Or, if virtue feeble were, 
Heaven itself would stoop to her.'" 



70 Why she became a Spiritualist. 



FROM POPE'S " ESSAY ON MAN." 



All are but parts of one stupendous whole, 
"Whose body Nature is, and God the soul; 
That changed through all, and yet in all the same, 
Great in the earth, as in the ethereal frame, 
Warms in the sun, refreshes in the breeze. 
Glows in the stars, and blossoms in the trees, 
I<ives through all life, extends through all extent, 
Spreads undivided, operates unspent. 
Breathes in our soul, informs our mortal part. 
As full, as perfect, in a hair as heart. 
As full, as perfect, in poor man that mourns 
As the rapt seraph that adores and burns: 
To him, no high, no low, no great, no small: 
He fills, He bounds, connects, and equals all." 



LECTURE IV. 

PERSONAL EVIDENCES OF SPIRITUALISM. 

Before taking up the personal evidence that laid 
the foundation of Spiritualism for my own mind, let 
us first get a clear notion of the system, of which 
the phenomena form the evidence. 

First, then, what is a Spiritualist? We will 
answer in two ways, negatively and positively. A 
Spiritualist is not a materialist. A materialist denies 
that spirit can exist independently of the body. He 
thinks that when our body dies, we exist no longer. 
Neither is a Spiritualist an agnostic. An agnostic 
knows nothing beyond physical existence, while a 
true Spiritualist knows of spirit existence even more 
surely than he knows physical and material facts. 
A Spiritualist does more than think or believe. He 
knows that life is continuous after the dissolution of 
the physical body. In short, the evidence proving 
Spiritualism will prove three things : first, that the 
soul can exist and manifest itself without being in 
an organized form of matter heavier than the air; 
second, that life does not cease wdth the death of 
our present material bodies ; and third, that there is 
intelligent communication between the living and 



72 Whv she became a Spiritualist. 

the so-called dead. If these three points can be 
proved to my mind, I must be a Spiritualist; if they 
can be proved to yours, you must be a Spiritualist, 
unless you prefer to be the thrall of prejudice. 

But, what is evidence? What is proof? And 
how far can they have weight in questions like 
these? We prove material existences and acts by 
material proofs; while in regard to intellectual or 
moral facts, we depend more on what is called evi- 
dence. Still, legally speaking, all proofs and testi- 
mony, taken together, form evidence. And so the 
object of the present lecture is to give some of the 
things that were evidence to me that Spiritualism 
is true. And I hope that the proofs I shall adduce 
will make it evident to your mind that I at least 
have good reason for being a Spiritualist, even 
though the evidence be not of such a character as to 
force you to be one yourself. 

Some may say that if the evidence be strong 
enough, it will be sure to convince all; and, con- 
versely, if others be not convinced, the cause is to 
be found in the defective nature of the evidence. 
But this is not always so. Many may hear abso- 
lute proofs that an act has been committed, and yet 
go away from court doubting the same. Absolute 
proof does not convince all minds. Some minds 
are so constituted by nature that they do not readily 
accept the testimony of another. Like Montaigne, 
they naturally antagonize every proposition that is 



Why she became a Spiritualist. 7 3 

brought before them. This original bias of mind 
has strengthened with years, until their scepticism 
has become abnormal, and incapable of receiving a 
newly presented truth. Their early teachers did 
not study the mind that they attempted to guide, 
and the original twist in the tender sapling has be- 
come an enormous and gnarly projection that pre- 
vents normal development. How carefully should 
we train a forming mind to judge things fairly, 
openly, and without prejudice ! 

When a case is to be tried in open court, how 
careful are the parties concerned to secure an un- 
biased jury! If a man has already formed an opin- 
ion on the subject, we think he is not fit to sit in the 
jury-box. He is challenged, and in important cases 
sometimes days are spent in finding twelve men 
who are at all fit to weigh the truth, and nothing 
but the truth. A biased juryman is incapable of 
deciding aright on evidence. Prejudice, from pre, 
before, and judicare, to judge, blinds him, for he 
has made up his mind beforehand. 

Many persons are prejudiced against Spiritual- 
ism, and therefore judge it before getting evidence 
in regard to it. This is unjust to those who are 
Spiritualists; and it is also unfair towards them- 
selves, for they miss a great light and a great good. 
Hume would not accept a miracle on any evidence 
whatever, and said that the testimony of every liv- 
ing person in the world could not convince him of 



74 Why she became a Spiritualist. 

a miracle. We Spiritualists do not blame Hume 
for refusing to accept a violation of the laws of 
Nature. But when we bring testimony regarding 
facts that are in exact accordance with the laws of 
nature, now better understood than in the time of 
Hume, we do ask for an unprejudiced consider- 
ation of that testimony. But persons that make 
their judgment of Spiritualism without any evidence 
at all have put their minds in a poor condition for 
judging clearly. There is but little use in bringing 
evidence to them, for "There are none as blind as 
those who will not see." Still, we hope that grains 
of truth w411 little by little work into the joints of 
their armor, for the light becomes clearer with each 
revolving year. When the world is bathed in sun- 
light, we pity the few who hide in a damp dark hole 
in the trunk of an old moss-grown tree. There is 
plenty of light for all. Let us all enjoy it! 

With deep interest in all, I yet bring my evidence 
mostly for unprejudiced minds, because such are 
the only ones that are fit to judge aright on any 
question. 

To be sure, there are some fair-minded persons 
who judge fairly on subjects connected with this 
present life, but who in regard to Spiritualism will 
not allow evidence that would be taken as con- 
vincing proof on other questions. They are so 
constituted, or so educated, that it seems to them 
quite impossible that disembodied spirits can com- 



Why she became a Spiritualist. 7S 

municate with us in the flesh. To such I will say 
that the seeming impossibility of any new thing is 
quite powerless, if that seemingly impossible thing 
be shown to be an actuality. A fact is a very stub- 
born thing, and I beg them to give their close and 
their candid attention to some of the facts I am 
about to relate, which came to my own mind as 
convincing proofs that Spiritualism is not a delusion, 
but a substantial truth. 

To premise, up to the autumn of 1887, I was as 
prejudiced against what is called Spiritualism as 
most members of orthodox churches. I was also 
very much afraid of it. I thought most of it was 
fraud and humbug; and that if there were any out- 
side spiritual agency in it, it was Satan himself, or 
his emissaries. Still, one thing allied to it, I knew 
to be true. I was aware that under certain condi- 
tions, our minds can impress each other, though our 
bodies be widely separated. Two personal exper- 
iences had made me know this to be true. 

In 1854, ■'■ ^^^ governess in a family in New 
York City. My step-mother was in Hamilton, 
thirty miles west of Utica, N. Y. On the 31st of 
May, about ten o'clock p. m., I lay in bed, when I 
was startled by a white form bending over me. This 
occurred several times, and I became so frightened 
that I went to another room, and saw no more. 
My step-mother, Mrs. Emily C. Judson, passed in- 
to spirit-life the next morning. I was summoned 



76 Why she became a Spiritualist. 

by telegram to the funeral. I did not mention what 
I had seen, but I learned from her sister that, at the 
hour above named, m}^ step-mother lay uncon- 
scious. I knew her spirit came to me, and I sup- 
posed her loving anxiety for me led her to me. I 
have since learned that her spirit guides brought 
her to me, in order to gain from me some magnetic 
force that aided her spirit to free smoothly from the 
worn physical body. 

In 1864, and somewhat later, I had three succes- 
sive experiences with an invalid relative, who is ex- 
ceedingly endeared to me. Though separated 
forty or several hundred miles, at each access of 
painful suffering on the part of this dear one, I 
spent a night of agony on his behalf. The coinci- 
dence of time was exact in each case; so that on the 
third occurrence, I awaited a letter with certain 
foreknowledge. The expected letter came, and the 
third seizure was at the time I suffered with him, 
though he was near Boston, Mass., and I in Skane- 
ateles, N. Y. . 

Thus was I shown that mind does impress mind, 
though widely separated. But I had the odd no- 
tion that it was only embodied souls, only those 
that we call the living, that could thus do. It never 
once occurred to me that disembodied souls could 
come to us and influence us. To me, the disem- 
bodied spirit seemed farther away than the central 
sun of the starry universe. This odd opinion of 



Why she became a Spiritualist. 77 

mine was due to my being really, though uncon- 
sciously, tinged with materialism. I had an indef- 
inite theory that while we are here^ a magnetism, or 
somethings was projected trom the body, that could 
affect certain sympathetic minds. But when a per- 
son was dead, I supposed he was completely car- 
ried off. All that power of projection was then 
lost, for I supposed it depended wholly on the body. 
When persons died, they went to either heaven or 
hell, and there was nothing more of them here. 
From my present standpoint, that state of mind was 
incipient materialism. 

As time passed on, I began to be sceptical as to 
the continuance of life at all, after the death of the 
body. The imperfect condition of the mind in in- 
fants, its weakness in illness, its apparent paralysis 
in cases of injury to the brain substance, the demo- 
lition of the mind in insanity, and its decay in ex- 
treme old age, — all these circumstances pointed 
with fatal finger to the dread conclusion that the 
mind depends for individual existence on the body, 
is produced with the body, is developed as the body 
develops, decays as the body decays, and — dies 
when the body dies. Materialism was no longer 
incipient; it was well developed. Its subtle poison, 
everywhere pervasive, planted a sting in every joy. 
It also made me, of course with the best of motives, 
hide my real views of existence from nearly all. 
Very rarely, I hinted these desolate forebodings to 



78 Why she became a Spiritualist. 

some thoughtful soul. If the person were strictly 
religious, I saw the painful chill that my words im- 
parted. If the friend were sceptical like myself, 
it v^as but sorry comfort to find that another soul 
was plunged in the same slough of uncertainty that 
engulfed me. 

But I kept these painful feelings mostly to my- 
self. A teacher, and therefore thrown much with 
the young, I was very careful not to say a single 
word that would deaden their faith in a life to come. 
To them, I spoke of God's love, of the perfection 
of the character of Jesus, of the truths of the Bible, 
of the influence of Christianity. Thus did I try to 
water the soil of other hearts, while my own heart 
was a desert, parched and perishing for the water 
of life. I should have thought it very wrong to sap 
belief in other minds, especially in the young, 
though I could not believe myself. Thus my 
double life went on. Outside, devotion to church 
and missionary enterprises; inside, a gulf of uncer- 
tainty opening into a sea of despair. 

For, alas! the religion taught in my church did 
not make me long for immortality. Supposing the 
mind did continue to exist after the death of the 
body, what comfort could I take in being "saved" 
myself, when the greater part of the human race 
had not heard of the "plan of salvation" and must 
be plunged into hell forever? Besides, according 
to the tenets of the "orthodox" church, the millions 



Why she became a Spiritualist. 79 

in Christian lands, who had heard of the Gospel 
plan, but had rejected it, were also to be in hell 
everlastingly. There they were to suffer untold 
agony, knowing that they might have been saved, 
and yet that they had refused the proffered mercy. 
And, what made it still worse was that many whom 
I greatly admired, in past ages and in the present, 
had never accepted Christ, and must therefore be 
damned forever. There was no hope of course 
for Socrates, Plato, and Confucius; for Zoroaster, 
Regulus, and Marcus Aurelius ; for Jefferson, Hume, 
and Gibbon; for Shelley, John Stuart Mill, and 
Ralph Waldo Emerson ! Of course Catherine de 
Medicis, Philip Second, and Judge Jeffreys were all 
right, for they were washed in the blood of Jesus 
before departing this life. How I worried over 
Shakespeare's doom ! There seemed to be a little 
hope for him, because he said in his will that he 
"hoped through the only merits of Jesus Christ his 
Savior to be made partaker of life everlasting." 
Real character and lofty aspirations seemed to have 
nothing to do with our condition in the next life, ac- 
cording to orthodox Christianity. Those who had 
not gone through one little gate, of which billions 
of the human race had never even heard, were to 
be in hell, suffering inexpressible agony, and grow- 
ing more wicked, forever and ever! What a hor- 
rible state of affairs! What an awful universe! 
And what an unreasonable God! An outlook like 



8o Why she became a Spiritualist. 

this made life beyond the grave a horror rather 
than a boon. 

Well, the years went on and on. "The young 
may die soon : the old must," came with ever in- 
creasing power to my despairing self. Weighing 
what real evidence I then had, looking at the pro's 
and con's, I thought it more than probable that 
when the body died, w^e knew no more. Of course 
reason testified to a spirit power working in the 
universe. I thought that power animated our 
bodies for a little while, and that when the body 
dissolved, its portion of power returned to the uni- 
versal source, and, destitute of all individuality, 
knew no more. This, my friends, formed the sad 
undercurrent of my thoughts, up to the autumn of 
1887. 

The year before, a youth of nineteen passed 
away after suffering two 3^ears with consumption. 
I had been intimate with his mother's family during 
seven years, and had known him well from his thir- 
teenth year. During his long illness, I visited him 
often, and he had great confidence in my friendship 
for him. Knowing that he could not get well, I 
spoke many times to him of the love of Jesus, and 
tried to have him accept the plan of salvation. I 
wanted him to be safe, in case Christianity were 
true. He was patient, loving, and thoughtful, but 
gave not the slightest evidence of conversion. He 
heard all I had to say, listened kindly through love 



Why she became a Spiritualist. 8i 

for me, but took no interest in what I called relig- 
ious matters. According to the tenets of Calvinism, 
he had rejected the only way of salvation, tenderly 
and clearly presented to him, and must go to hell. 
According to the New England Primer, 

"His dear soul in hell must lie, 
With devils to eternity." 

In the fall of 1887, his mother attended a stance 
for materiahzation. She declared to me that she 
had seen and talked with this dear son, who passed 
away in 1886. I told her it was utterly impossible, 
and I described to her the mechanical contrivances 
of rubber bags, robes, wigs, and masks, by which 
these frauds were accompHshed. She persisted that 
she had seen George, that his clothes were like 
those he wore in the coffin, that he talked like him- 
self, and that she knew it was he. She insisted that I 
attend a seance. I pitied her incredulity, and went 
with her, in order to find out the fraud. I believed 
it to be a deception. Still, if life beyond the grave 
could be demonstrated to me, I thought I would be 
very glad. I weht several times, but kept in the 
background with the sceptics. The fifth time I at- 
tended, George came from the cabinet, talked with 
his mother, and asked for me. I went up to the 
cabinet, and saw that it was indeed my friend 
George. The light was good, I recognized him 
perfectly, but I saw that he looked wan and very 
weak. He looked as he did the days before he 



82 Why she became a Spiritualist. 

died. He was at least four feet away from the cabi- 
net, with his back to the cabinet, and his mother 
stood facing him and was talking with him. He 
was also talking. I stood b}^ his side, in such a posi- 
tion that I saw how far he was from the cabinet. I 
was so close to him that my dress touched the lower 
part of him. It was indisputably my friend George. 
He was quite tall, as in life. He talked with his 
mother. I was looking at him, and listening to 
each word. Suddenly he became much shorter. 
Then, he bowed, and went into nothingness without 
gvinsc back into the cabinet, I was never so aston- 
ished in my life. "Where is he?" I exclaimed. 
Bear in mind that I recognized him, that he was 
palpable, that he w^as talking, and that he demate- 
rialized then and there^ and that he did not go back 
into the cabinet, where the medium was. 

My friends, this wonderful occurrence demon- 
strated to me that beings do exist, under different 
conditions from our own; and that the so-called 
dead boy was not dead, but alive ; that he still loved 
his mother, and that he could return. And if this 
George retained nis identity after his physical body 
had died, then surely my father, with his strongly 
marked individuality, and my whole-souled mother, 
were alive too, still loved me, and might sometimes 
come near their child. 

This occurrence not only demonstrated spirit ex- 
istence without our kind of a body, and spirit return. 



Why she became a Spiritualist. 83 

but it also overthrew the orthodox doctrines regard- 
ing salvation and hell. Bear in mind that this 
George was not a Christian, that he had not ac- 
cepted Christ as his Savior. Yet here he was, free 
to come, declaring himself happy. Calvinistic 
theology, from that moment, lost its power over me. 

At the time of this demonstration, I knew noth- \|,/ 
ing of Spiritualism. I had not examined its laws. 
How George had been enabled to return, I had no 
notion. I simply took the evidence of my senses, 
and trusted them on this occasion, as I have trusted 
them during my whole life. That I really saw m}- 
friend, and that his body did dematerialize on the 
spot, as our bodies cannot do, was as certain as any- 
thing that I ever saw with my eyes on any other oc- 
casion. To accept the evidence of ni}^ eyes on all 
other occasions, and to deny it on this one occasion, 
only because I had made up my mind beforehand 
that a dead person cannot materialize, would be to 
make myself a slave to a prejudice. 

The only question to be settled here is whether 
the testimony of the senses of a person "of sound 
disposing mind and memory" is to be taken as evi- 
dence. Supposing a person is on trial for murder, 
and a sane and reliable person testifies that he saw 
the accused drive a knife into the body of the vic- 
tim, and that the victim fell down dead. Would 
you take the testimony of that sane and reliable per- 
son on that question? Has not many a man been 



S4 Why she became a Spiritualist. 

hanged for murder on the testimony of a person 
who saw the murder committed? Again, if there 
were a person on the jury who had made up his 
mind beforehand that no testimony whatever could 
prove the guilt of the accused, w^ould you think that 
person fit to sit in the jury-box on this occasion? 
The testimony of a sane and truthful person will be 
taken as evidence by all persons, except those who 
have deprived themselves of the power of judging 
fairly, by making up their minds before they have 
heard that evidence. 

With regard to the testimony on the facts that 
prove spirit return, we hear church people or mate- 
rialists remark, "Oh! I presume you think you saw 
this thing." A person who allows himself to so 
speak makes himself a slave to prejudice, and 
stultifies his mind. Supposing a man says to his 
wife, "I saw Mr. A. to-day." She replies, "Oh! I 
presume you think you saw him." Would not that 
man feel somewhat insulted? Supposing you attend 
a concert and say on your return, "I heard Miss B. 
sing at the musicale." Your friend replies, "Oh! I 
presume you t hmk yoM heard her sing." Would 
you feel that you were treated fairly? 

My friends, Francis Bacon in his "Novum Or- 
ganum" speaks of the dens and caves in w^hich the 
human mind may be shut up. Some of these dens 
are almost unavoidable, as they are made by the 
century in which a man lives, or the race to which 



Why she became a Spiritualist. 85 

he belongs. When these dens are brought to our 
notice, it behoves a man who prides himself on his 
reason and his clear judgment to get himself out of 
them just as far as possible. Let us be ready to 
receive the truth, if it be the truth, no matter vv^hat 
prejudice it may offend, and no matter what tenet 
of the old theology it may disprove. If the dead 
return, we want to know it. If they can manifest 
their love to us, and influence our lives for good, it 
is a blessed thing. And remember that no pre-ccn- 
ceived opinion against a fact can have any possible 
weight, when that fact can be proved by the same 
evidence that you would consider reliable if you had 
no prejudice against the fact. 

Was that form my friend George? I knew him 
well, the light was good, my eyes are good, I was 
close to him, and I declare that it was George. 
Did the body of the aforesaid George, whom I rec- 
ognized to be George, dematerialize at my feet, in 
a way that our ph3'sical bodies can not dematerahze? 
Yes; it did so dematerialize, in the light and under 
the conditions aforesaid. Will my bigoted Baptist 
friend or my skeptical materialistic friend now say, 
"Oh! I presume you Ihink yoM saw him." Well, 
v/hether another take my testimony or no, what I 
saw and heard convinced me at least that the so- 
called dead are not dead, that they can return, and 
that those who do not accept Christ as a Savior are 
not shut up in hell. 



86 Why she became a Spiritualist. 

I had gained much, for I now knew that one at 
least who had died retained his separate individuality. 
And if George, a feeble boy, did so, surely my 
idolized father and my precious mother must be 
alive somewhere. And if George could communi- 
cate w^ith his mother, could not my parents, though 
much longer in spirit life, communicate with their 
child? I began to hope that they could, but how 
this could be accomplished was the question. How 
could they communicate thoughts to me that would 
prove that it was the}^, and no one else, that was 
dealing with me? 

Friends, let us first inquire how one of our minds 
gives its thought to another mind? My mind is 
shut up in my body. You cannot see my mind. 
How can my mind give you its thought? We can 
conceive of but two ways. One way is for my 
mind to impart its thought to yours, without any 
physical agency at all, — in other words, exactly as 
if your mind and mine were wholly freed from our 
bodies. I say we can conceive of that way. And 
by and by, when we shall be in spirit life, we shall 
not only conceive of that way, but we shall practice 
it. And as a Spiritualist, I know that my spirit 
friends do often give me their thoughts in this way, 
by pure impression, their spirit impressing my spirit. 

What is the only other way by which my mind 
can give your mind its thoughts? Our reply is, by 
the use of some physical sign which may represent 



• Why she became a Spiritualist. 87 

that thought. Suppose I look at you and smile. 
You know by that that I am pleased in my mind. 
Did you see my mind? You saw the movement of 
certain portions of my physical face; and those 
movements, producing what we call a smile, formed 
a physical sign, by which you knew that I, whom 
yoit cannot see, was pleased. You ask me a ques- 
tion. I wish to reply in the affirmative. I bow my 
head, a mere physical sign of what my mind feels. 
Or I say "yes," a sound made by particular move- 
ments of my vocal organs, which set waves of air in 
motion and affected your organs of hearing in a par- 
ticular way; and by these physical acts, your mind 
learns that my mind assents to your question. Or, 
I write "yes" on paper or slate, and you see those 
signs with your eyes, and you know that those 
marks that you see with your physical eyes mean 
that my mind assents to the question of your mind, 
which you had asked of me by some physical means. 
And, is there anything in the sound of the word 
"yes," or anything in the way it looks, that makes 
it mean assent, any more than the word "no" would 
do? A Frenchman expresses assent by a totally 
different sound, "oui;" and an Italian, by the word 
"si." And "oui" and "si" do not look like assent, 
when written, any more than our word "yes." 
Words, then, are arbitrary signs of thoughts or 
ideas. And yet it is by these arbitrary and physical 



88 Why she became a Spiritualist. 

sounds and sights that our minds communicate 
thoughts to one another. 

Supposing now that my mind is in New York 
and yours in London. You want me to know that 
3^ou, that is, that your mind in your physical body, 
reached the other side of the Atlantic in safety. 
You send a telegram by sub-marine wires. How 
is this done? By intermitting the flow of the elec- 
tric fluid by longer or shorter periods, another sys- 
tem of arbitrary phj^sical signs, the operator gets 
words, puts them on paper by written words; the 
paper is carried to me ; I read these written signs 
with my physical eyes, and then my mind learns 
that 3^ou reached London in safety. 

Is it not evident that while you and I are in the 
physical body, our minds must communicate thought 
to one another by some physical means, some facial 
expression, some gesture, some spoken or written 
words? And are not these thoughts given by arbi- 
trary signs? 

Now, let us suppose that I am still in the body, 
and that I have a friend who is freed from the physi- 
cal body, but whh loves me, and wants to communi- 
cate to me that he still lives, and cares for me. 
How can he do it? There are two ways. He may 
give me impressions on my pure spirit. But I am 
not yet advanced enough to know that when I have 
a vivid thought and at the same moment a flash of 
remembrance of my friend, it is probably his mind 



Why she became a Spiritualist. 89 

impressing my mind. Not being experienced 
enough in spiritual life to understand that, how can 
my friend communicate his thought to me? He 
can do it only by physical signs, and to these signs 
we attach arbitrary meanings. I ask questions by 
telegram. I get "yes," or "no," or "I do not know," 
by dots or short lines or long lines variously com- 
bined, and the operator tell me what it means. I 
want my spirit friend to answer my questions, and 
he must of course use the physical means at his 
command. A few of us in the physical body sit 
around a table, our bodies well, our minds in har- 
mony. Our magnetism flows smoothly from one 
to another, and permeates the table. My spirit 
friend knows the laws of magnetism better than we 
do. Attendant spirits combine his magnetism with 
ours. The table moves or stops at the will of these 
spirit operators. We ask the question desired with 
our physical mouth and they reply by spirit teleg- 
raphy. Having agreed on certain arbitrary signs, 
we and they know that one tip or rap of the table 
means "no,"' that three tips or raps mean "yes," 
and that two tips or raps mean "I don't know." 
Names, words, and whole sentences can be easil}^ 
communicated by the celestial operators. One of 
the mortals repeats the alphabet very slowly, and 
the spirit band rap at the right letter. 

Is this silly? Then the ticks of the telegraphic 
machine are silly too. Is this unworthy them and 



po Why she became a Spiritualist. 

us? Then making noises with tongue and lips and 
vocal chords and air, in order to communicate 
thought, is silly too. 

But I must hasten. The mother of George, an- 
other lady, and myself, began to set this simple tel- 
egraphic machine for operation. We sat every 
Saturday evening. The week's work done, with 
true hearts, with prayer to the Great Spirit for aid, 
we set the door ajar for our loved ones to come. 
We invited no mediums. We each knew that the 
others wanted the truth. We sat, and w^ith loving 
uplifted souls awaited the results. Tiny raps came, 
that we knew vje did not make. George came, and 
by gentle and clear raps gave answers to the ques- 
tions of his happy mother. 

One blessed evening, the fifth time we sat to- 
gether, my father came. By loud, firm, strongly 
individual tips of the table, our hands lightly resting 
on it, and the table always ti-ppingyrom me, so that 
I might know that / did not do it unconsciously, my 
father came. In answer to my eager questions, he 
gave unmistakably and decisively, names connected 
with our life in 3urmah, names totally unknown to 
my two companions. In one case, the name was 
unknown to me, and I verified it afterwards by 
searching in his Memoirs. He even gave the last 
sacred words of my mother,* in reply to his ques- 



* "She replied in the affirmative, by a peculiar expression of her own. 
Pages 245 and 246 of "Memoir of Sarah B. Judson," bj' Kmily C. Judson, 



Why she became a Spiritualist. 91 

tion whether she still loved him. These words, too 
sacred for publication, were never given to the 
world, but have lived all these years in her daugh- 
ter's heart. 

And how inexpressibly happy was I made by this 
blessed hour! Yes; my father 3- et lives. He loves 
me. He cares for me still. He teaches me and 
guides me. And when God shall call me to leave 
this mortal life, my father has promised me that he 
and my mother will be the first to meet me and 
guide me in the new spirit life. No more death, 
but "life forevermore !" Ah! my friends, has not 
Spiritualism made me happy indeed? 



' The music of thy daughter's voice, 

Thou'lt miss for many a year; 
And the merry shout of thy elder boys, 
Thou'lt list in vain to hear. 

' But who shall paint our mutual joy, 

On yon celestial plain. 
When the loved and parted here below 
Meet, ne'er to part again." 

Mrs. Sarah B. Judson. 



92 Why she became a Spiritualist. 



there; is no death. 

"There is no death! The stars go down 
To rise upon some fairer shore; 
And bright in heaven's jewelled crown 
They shine forevermore. 

"There is no death! The dust we tread 

Shall change beneath the summer showers 
To golden grain or mellowed fruit, 
Or rainbow-tinted flowers. 

" The granite rocks disorganize, 

And feed the hungry moss they bear; 
The forest leaves drink daily life, 
From out the viewless air, 

"There is no death! The leaves may fall, 
And flowers may fade and pass away; 
They only wait through wintry hours, 
The coming of the May. 

"There is no death! An angel form 

Walks o'er the earth with silent tread; 
He bears our best loved things away; 
And then we call them 'dead.' 

" He leaves our hearts all desolate, 

He plucks our iairest, sweetest flowers; 
Transported into bliss they now 
Adorn immortal bowers. 

" The bird-like voice, whose joyous tones 
Made glad these scenes of sin and strife, 
Sings now an everlasting song, 
Around the tree of life. 

" "Where'er He sees a smile too bright, 
Or heart too pure for taint and vice, 
He bears it to that world of light, 
To dwell in Paradise. 

" Born into that undying life. 

They leave us but to come again; 
With joy we welcome them the same, — 
Except their sin and pain. 

" And ever near us, though unseen. 
The dear, immortal spirits tread; 
For all the boundless universe 
Is life. There are no dead.'''' 

—Edward Bulwer-L,ytton. 



LECTURE V. 



UNREASONABLE DOGMAS. 



In the course of life, we converse with many dif- 
ferent church members on the doctrines they are 
taught. Do we find that they all believe exactly 
the creed of the denomination to which they belong? 
We know very well that many members of ortho- 
dox churches "in good and regular standing" find 
themselves totally unable to accept all of those doc- 
trines. Some are honest enough to say that they 
do not really believe all that the church teaches. 
Some succeed in closing their minds to all the out- 
side influences of this progressive age, and persuade 
themselves that they do actually believe that far the 
larger share of the human race are to be tormented 
in hell forever, because they did not happen to go 
through one little gate. Others believe what they 
can, shut their eyes to the rest, and congratulate 
themselves that at any rate they are safe. For fear 
of seeing something dangerous, they close their eyes 
and hope for the best. 

But sometimes a church member of this latter 
class loses a dear one by death, who was not in the 
ark of safety. For instance, we have in mind a 



93 



94 



Why she became a Spiritualist. 



famity who lost their senior member by death, a few 
3^ears ago. This old man was rich, and he was 
often generous to those in need. He was a consid- 
erate and loving husband and brother, and a kind 
and just father. He was strictly honest in all his 
dealings, and was highly respected in the city in 
which he lived. His wife, his sister, his son, and 
all his relatives, so far as we know, were members 
of the Calvinistic Baptist church. But this old man 
was different from all the rest. He was a free- 
thinker, an agnostic. He did not pretend to believe 
any of the "saving" doctrines of the church, had no 
settled belief in a life after the death of the body, 
and died unsaved, as far as Jesus and blood- washing 
are concerned. He had, however, no anxiety about 
the future. He knew that he had been honest and 
kind, and on the strength of just that, and no more, 
he went alone into eternit}^ He never professed 
conversion. He did not want conversion. 

Now, what effect did the death of this old man 
have on the surviving members of his family? If 
they really believed as they professed to believe, 
the husband, brother, father, and friend had refused 
salvation through Jesus, and had gone to hell to stay 
there in agony forever. Did these surviving friends 
show any anxiety? Did they feel any anxiety? 
They manifested none. If they felt any, they 
calmed it by the thought that it must surely be well, 
somehow, with their husband, father, brother, and 



Why she became a Spiritualist. 95 

friend. They were tranquil, and seem to-day just 
as happy as if this old man had been thoroughly 
converted, baptized, and had died avowing his trust 
in the blood of Jesus. Do these relatives of the 
dead man actually believe the doctrines of their 
church.^. If asked, they would earnestly declare 
that they do accept them in full. But, do they 
really believe them? 

Take another case. We know a lady high in the 
Presbyterian church, who lost her only child by 
death. The lady is a Christian. The child was a 
Christian. But, this lady suffered agonies for years 
from the dread that her child did not exist at all, 
after her body was laid in the grave. No words of 
the Bible, no teachings of the church, no suggestions 
offered by friends gave her the assurance that she 
craved, that her child still lived somewhere. Her 
grief was terrible, and nearly destroyed her health. 
All her life, she had supposed that she did believe 
all that her church taught. She had given her time, 
her money, her great talent, to church work. But, 
when her little, child's body died, all her props were 
swept away, and she cried aloud in her anguish, "If 
I could only know that my little girl is alive !" We 
are glad to state that Spiritualism has given her the 
assurance she craved, and that the storm is settling 
into a great calm. It is by such baptisms of suffer- 
ing that the angel world is preparing mortals to ac- 
cept the blessed truth, that life is forevermore. 



96 Why she became a Spiritualist. 

Such instances, which might be multiplied by ten 
thousand, show us that many church members do 
not in their hearts actually believe the teachings of 
their particular church. 

An original thinker has written a book on "Re- 
ligion and Dogma," the title of which conveys the 
thought that the "pure and undefiled" religion of 
which the apostle James speaks, is a very different 
thing from a dogma. While we all know that a 
true religion is founded on absolute truths, we must 
distinguish those absolute truths from mere dogmas. 

How does a dogma differ from a truth? The 
ordinary meaning attached to the word dogma is 
that of something declared to be true by some set- 
tled and indisputable authorit3\ And the authority 
which has laid down religious dogmas for us is the 
church. The long existing and still continued con- 
troversy between reason and authority lies in the 
question whether a thing is true because it is rea- 
sonable, or because the church has said that it is 
true. Tlie life-long controversy between those two 
great lights of the twelfth century, Abelard and St. 
Bernard, was on'this point. 

St. Bernard contended for the authority of the 
church. Under the influence of his worderful elo- 
quence, the Second Crusade was undertaken by 
France and Germany. Even those who did not un- 
derstand the French tongue in which he spoke, 
were moved by his looks, his tones, and the cross 



Why she became a Spiritualist. 97 

he bore. He founded one hundred and sixty monas- 
teries. So faithful was he to the Church that Dante 
places him high in the ninth heaven of his Paradise, 
"robed in glory." What the church had decreed, 
Bernard held to; what the church anathematized, 
Bernard condemned. Sincere, fervid, devoted, he 
yet placed the decision of church councils higher 
than human reason, and thus bound faster yet the 
fetters of the mind. 

Very different were the views of Abelard. (Poor 
fellow! One never sees the "Saint" prefixed to his 
name!) Abelard did not dare, in the twelfth cen- 
tury, with Medieval darkness at its depth and the 
power of the Papal See at its height, to separate 
from the church. Probably the thought of doing 
so never once occurred to him. But Abelard did 
venture to suggest that it might be well to inquire 
somewhat into the reason of things. He did ven- 
ture to hint that the authority of the church was not 
all that should be considered. His powerful mind 
laid dow^n the principle that "nothing is to be be- 
lieved but what has been first understood," while 
the church held that we must believe in order to 
understand. Bernard, on the contrary, said inquiry 
should be altogether banished from the province of 
religion. Of course the two were opposed to one 
another; and, as Bernard had the church to support 
his side, he had the satisfaction of seeing Abelard 
imprisoned for heterodoxy. 



98 Why she became a Spiritualist. 

Well! Dante does not put Abelard high in heaven. 
He makes no allusion whatever to him. If he had 
put him an3^\vhere, we fear it would have been in 
the sixth circle of the Inferno, along with the arch- 
heretics, in tombs of fire, the covers of which were 
to be forever closed after the day of judgment. 
Such horrible retribution did the Medieval church 
prescribe for those who presumed to set human rea- 
son above her authorit}^ But, thanks to the infinite 
source of Hfe and light, the -Dark Ages have gone 
by; and in this free United States, towards the end 
of this pregnant nineteenth century, men, and wo- 
men too, may think for themselves, and may also 
dare to express their thoughts to the world. 

Abelard may be considered the earliest rationalist. 
He first dared to assert the supremacy of reason. 
The tiny seed he ventured to plant in the minds of 
thousands of disciples sprouted into a vigorous sap- 
lino- in Luther, who builded so much "better than 
he knew;" sprang into a magnificent tree when 
Thomas Paine gave his "Age of Reason" to the 
world; and will before very long shelter all nations 
with its shade,^ and feed all people with its fruit. 
Bless the angel-world for Abelard ! He did good 
work for them, in spite of certain imperfections, 
which were incidental to his physical nature ; and he 
is now in a brighter, freer sphere than the limited 
and partial heaven pictured by Dante. 

Well, a dogma is something that may or may not 



Why she became a Spiritualist. 99 

be true, though it is declared to be true by some 
established authority. This being the case, we ap- 
prehend the meaning attached to the words dogma- 
tism and dogmatic. To show how a dogma and a 
truth differ from each other, it may be said that 
some of the dogmas of the church are true, while 
some of them are not true: also, that while some 
truths have been embodied in the dogmas of the 
church, yet it is equally true that soma underlying, 
imperishable, and everlasting truths have never yet 
been embodied in the dogmas of any church that 
has ever existed in this world. The religion of the 
the future may have some of these truths expressed 
in form. But the great religion now developing 
into existence will have one cardinal feature. It will 
not be creed-bound. It will be ever ready for new 
truths and for broader views of old truths. It will 
be forever progressive. 

Now, what is the criterion by which we are to 
judge of any view or statement regarding spiritual 
life, that is brought to our notice? We know of but 
two ways. We may compare it with the dogmas of 
some church-creed or system, or with the statements 
made in some special book that was composed by 
many different men, in Asia, many hundred years 
ago. That is one way of judging any statement 
pertaining to spiritual life. 

Another way is to bring this proposed view or 
statement under the liHit of human reason, to 



lOO Why she became a Spiritualist. 

examine it by that light, and to pronounce on its 
truth or falsit}^, according as it stands in that light. 

But, the ministers will exclaim, "That is not a 
safe thing to do. Human reason is blinded, and lia- 
ble to err." Well, friends, if we cannot depend on 
our reason, really what have we to depend on? We 
depend on our reason, in deciding matters that have 
to do with daily life; and, if we make mistakes, it is 
because we follow the impulses of passion and sel- 
fishness, and shut our eyes willfully to the clear dic- 
tates of reason. 

How may we know what is the right? Simply 
by finding out what is reasonable. Is this unsafe, 
unorthodox doctrine? If it be, we have some very 
orthodox thinkers to bear us company. We sup- 
pose that Amherst College, Mass., would not have 
an unsafe man for its President. Let us see what 
President Seelye considers the standard of ultimate 
right. This orthodox New England divine, Presi- 
dent of an orthodox college, in the co-operative re- 
vision of the "System of Moral Science," written by 
Dr. Hickok, another orthodox divine, agrees with 
him in taking th^e following as the standard of the 
ultimate right: "A reasonable being ought to act 
reasonably." Thanks to these good men for daring, 
with Abelard and Thomas Paine, to go to reason 
itself, rather than to any book, or council, or 
Almighty God himself, in order to know what is 
right! Right are they on this point; and, when 



Why she became a Spiritualist. ioi 

freed from the bonds and prejudices of earth, we 
shall see them 

"Sailing with supreme dominion 
Thro' the azure deeps of air," 

on other points not yet acknowledged in their philos- 
ophy. 

Dr. Wayland and Confucius found the ultimate 
right in the proper relation of things; Jonathan Ed- 
wards, in moral beauty; Des Cartes, in the revealed 
will of God. Closely allied to the view of Hick ok 
and Seelye is the "immediate beholding of the right," 
adopted by Kant, as well as by Coleridge, the poetic 
seer of our century. But better than theirs is the 
statement, "A reasonable being ought to act reason- 
ably ;" for, to quote the words of the reverend authors, 
the ultimate right thus apprehended is simple, immu- 
table, and universal. Instead of taking for the stand- 
ard of ultimate right, the authority of the government, 
with Hobbes; the most productive of happiness, 
with Bentham ; or an inward awe of the Deity, with 
Schlegel, these men think that the reasonable is the 
right, and that the sublime ought of a reasonable 
being (whether finite or infinite, we shall add) is to 
act reasonably. 

But, how can I tell w^hat is reasonable? Why, 
by your own reason. What! am I not to go to my 
Bible, to know what is right? No. use your own 
reason. Why, cannot I go to my pastor or my 
priest, in order to know what is right? No: use 



I02 Why she became a Spiritualist. 

your own reason. What! cannot I ask God what 
is right? Certainly. But how will you ask infinite 
spirit? Only by looking into your ow^n finite spirit 
and seeing w^hat it says. Use your ozvn reason. 

But, you fear that your own reason is not to be 
depended on. Then, whose reason are you going 
to depend on? On somebody else's? If you wash 
to w^alk, and have poor legs, do you try to walk 
with the legs of somebody else? No: you walk as 
w^ell as you can, with your own. And using them 
will make them improve. 

The reason of all of us who are yet on the earth 
plane is more or less prejudiced by our countr}^, our 
age, our race, our surroundings, our own physical 
condition. But w4th all these disadvantages, it is 
oitr reason, it is ours to use, and it should be our 
Cfuide. Where did it come from? It came from 
the fount of infinite reason, of which it is an individ- 
ualized portion. It is in the deepest sense our own 
birth-right. Let us then free it from its shackles, 
let us develop and strengthen it by use, let us obey 
its dictates, instead of the dictates of unreason and 
folly, and it w^ill lead us aright. 

It is impossible to predicate the conclusions of 
minds that are enthralled by prejudice. But we 
know that all others will admit that religious and 
spiritual statements should be tested by the reason. 
So we will proceed to consider some of the dogmas 
of the church. Which of them are reasonable, and 



Why she became a Spiritualist. 103 

therefore may be true ; and which of them are un- 
reasonable, and therefore false? The existence of 
infinite being, embracing all finite being, was treated 
of in a previous lecture. To deny such an existence, 
which accounts reasonably for all individual and 
finite beings, w^ould be unreason. As David said, 
such a denial could be made only by a fool. With 
churches that rise to such a conception of God as is 
expressed by the term, "Infinite Being," we have 
no quarrel. Rather does the consciousness of such 
a common source bind lovingly together all the 
happy souls who share it. This consciousness be- 
longs to the most spiritual follow^ers of all the great 
religions of the world, among which w^e may name 
Buddhism, Christianity, and Spiritualism. 

But, let us consider the basic dogma which be- 
longs exclusively to Christianity, the dogma on 
which rests the authority for all the rest. We 
mean, of course, the dogma that all the books of the 
Old and New Testament were directly inspired by 
God himself. One of the recent supporters of this 
theory w^rites as follows : "Every verse of the Bible, 
every word of it, every syllable of it, every letter of 
it, is the direct utterance of the Most High." Can 
this view, or even the more moderate views of the 
inspiration of the Bible by God, be shown to be rea- 
sonable? If shown to be unreasonable, it is not 
right, and is therefore not a true statement. Is this 
dogma reasonable, or is it not so? This dogma, 



* 



I04 Why she became a Spiritualist. 

that Infinite Wisdom, Light, and Life, inspired this 
Bible is unreasonable, from the following considera- 
tions. 

The Bible directly contradicts itself, as in the two 
accounts of the circumstances attending the death of 
Judas. According to Matthew 27: 5-10, Judas 
hanged himself, and the chief priests took the thirty 
pieces of silver that he had earned by betraying his 
master, and went and bought the potter's field. 
But in Acts 1 : 18, we are told that Judas himself 
bought the field with the reward of his iniquity, and 
died by a fall which ruptured him. Which account 
is true? One account says that the priests bought 
the said field after the death of Judas. The other 
account says that Judas bought it himself. Can 
both these propositions be true? Instead of identi- 
cal, it seems to us that we have contradictory state- 
ments, and it is impossible that both be true. 

Again, we are told in Matt. 10: 10, that Jesus 
told his disciples not to take any staves with them, 
when they went on their missionary journey; while 
we are told in Mark 6: 8, that they must take noth- 
ing but a staff. \ Which account is correct? Both 
cannot be right, as they contradict each other. It 
may be said that these are unimportant circum- 
stances. Granted : but do we not teach our children 
to be truthful in all their statements, in small as well 
as in large? A slight circumstance may still make 
all the difference between a truth and a lie. Com- 



Why she became a Spiritualist. ioS 

mentators say that errors have crept in in copying. 
That is undoubtedly true. How shall we know 
then what statements were originally inspired by 
God, and which have crept in in copying? They 
tell us we must decide what belonp^ to the origfinal 
by seeing what cohere together. Very well: how 
can we judge what statements do cohere, except by 
using our human reason? 

Is the Bible inspired by God? Certain passages 
inculcate revengeful feeling, as the one hundred and 
ninth Psalm. In the tenth verse of this Psalm, David, 
called "the man after God's own heart," hopes that 
the (innocent) children of his enemy may continu- 
ally be vagabonds and beg; and in verse twelve, 
that there may be none to favor his fatherless chil- 
dren. Not satisfied with such evil wishes for the 
children of one he hates, he bethinks himself in verse 
fourteen, to wish evil to the ancestors of his enemy; 
and, by a refinement of cruelty, he hopes that the 
sin of the mother of his enemy may not be blotted 
out. To illustrate the revengful and bloody nature 
of some of these ancient writings, we remember 
hearing of a godly Northern clerg3^man who said 
during the Civil War that the only way he could re- 
lieve his feelings was by reading over some of the 
imprecatory Psalms. David never seems to forget 
his enemies. Even in the much read Twenty-third 
Psalm, otherwise very beautiful, he congratulates 



io6 Why she became a Spiritualist. 

himself in verse five, that a table is prepared before 
him in the presence of his enemies. 

The loving Nazarene taught that a ver}^ different 
state of heart is right. But, according to the Old 
Theology, all the Bible is inspired by God. 

We have not time to linger on this prolific sub- 
ject. We all know that in some passages the Jews 
were commanded to take revenge by murdering 
enemies who had alread}^ submitted. It is unrea- 
sonable that such commands were inspired by the 
infinite source of love and light and life. It is also 
unreasonable that to one nation alone should be 
given the only Bible inspired by God himself. God 
made all men, all are the offspring of infinite life, all 
are the objects of infinite care. God would not give 
his word to one nation alone, and not to others, be- 
cause that would be a partial act and not right. 
Ought not infinite reason to act reasonably? 

We do not wish to be misunderstood. The Bible, 
in spite of its errors, its inconsistencies, its some- 
times inadequate presentation of the acts and com- 
mands of infinite reason, in spite of its many inequali- 
ties, is still probably the best of all compilated 
works, so far. But, that it was all inspired by In- 
,finite Wisdom is unreasonable. 

The Spiritualistic view of the inspiration of the 
Bible is wholly reasonable. What is that view? It 
is that the writers of the Old and New Testaments 
were all what we now call mediums. In other 



Why she became a Spiritualist. 107 

\vords, they were sensitive to disembodied spirit in- 
fluence. But it was not infinite spirit that inspired 
them. They were inspired by various spirits, who 
had once been human beings in the flesh. Freed 
from the bondage of the body, they continued to 
love those in earth life, especially those who belonged 
to their own race, or those who were allied to them 
in aspiration after the spiritual. These disembodied 
spirits were of different grades of intelligence and 
goodness, just as one twinkling star differs from 
another star in the power of radiating light. This 
view, that different finite spirits inspired the differ- 
ent parts of the Bible, accounts for the inconsisten- 
cies and the inequalities in a reasonable way. It 
also accounts for the loftiness of the more spiritual 
portions. Of course these Hebrew mediums drew 
inspiration from various classes of spirits, according 
to their own varying conditions. 

For instance, David, being exceedingly impres- 
sional, while extraordinarily composite in his own 
nature, writes very differently at different times. 
He did indeed play upon a harp of a thousand strings, 
though he was always emotional. When inclined 
to tender devotion, he drew a kindred class of spirits, 
and expressed pure devotion. But when he was 
aroused by the unjust opposition of his foes, he be- 
came the medium of hateful, vengeful spirits, and 
wrote the ^'imprecatory Psalms" alluded to above. 
Personally endowed with imagination and a love of 



io8 Why she became a Spiritualist. 

Nature, he voiced to mortals the sublime conception 
of a Deity manifest in all his works, as in the 19th 
and the 104th Psalm. 

"Like attracts like," is one of the laws of the 
spiritual world, and an inspirational medium who 
wishes to elevate the race should keep his heart so 
loving and his aspirations so pure that only the best 
inspiration can be expressed through his medium- 
ship. Jesus was an almost ideal sensitive, and nearly 
all that is recorded as coming from his lips is fitted 
to elevate and bless mankind. 

We cannot dwell longer on this, the true view of 
the inspiration of the Scriptures, but we are sure 
that it will commend itself to the thinking, the un- 
prejudiced, and the fearless mind. 

We must hasten to show the unreasonableness of 
a few other dogmas of the church, and also show 
how the SpirituaHstic view of the subject is the rea- 
sonable view, and therefore likely to be the true one. 
We will first consider the fall of man. 

" In Adam's fall, 
We sinned all." 

This doctrine means that at first man was made sin- 
less and perfect. He knew nothing whatever of 
evil, being forbidden to taste even of the tree of the 
knowledge of good and evil. An ideal man, he was 
placed in a beautiful garden, with an ideal w^oman. 
They were then allowed to fall, and became totally 
depraved, involving all their posterity to the end of 



Why she became a Spiritualist. 109 

time in their own depravity, said cognate and innate 
depravity making them the fit subjects of eternal 
woe. This doctrine is unreasonable, because "a 
reasonable being ought to act reasonably." We are 
taught by it that an infinitely reasonable and power- 
ful being made a mistake in his method of creation. 
He meant to make "very good," and alas! it came 
out very bad. Having made a mistake, he then had 
to contrive some way of undoing his own work, for 
a small portion at any rate, of the billions of created 
human beings. This method is called by some "the 
plan of salvation." 

The doctrine of the fall of man is also unreasona- 
ble by analogy. Everything else in creation, from 
nebulas to worms, begins low down in the scale, 
and is gradually developed. But, according to this 
doctrine, man was, against all analogy, created per- 
fect at once, and then descended from ideal perfec- 
tion to a very low condition, with a heavy stone 
chained to his neck, that would hold him forever in 
the depths of perdition, unless a separate miracle be 
wrought for each individual. My friends, if we en- 
gaged some one to construct a thing for us, and he 
made such wretched work as this, we should not 
employ him the second time. 

What is the Spirituahstic view of this same sub- 
ject? It is that the life of every human being is .an 
individualized drop from the ocean of infinite life. 
It is in its origin but a germ. But, that germ has 



no Why SHE BECAME A Spiritualist. 

infinite possibilities in it. Circumstances may delay 
the development of that germ. But, sharing in in- 
finite life, it can never die, it can never be "lost." 
Sometime, somewhere, it will have opportunity for 
development. The germ is "very good," and its 
full maturity will be still better. This development 
view is in accordance with the general laws of na- 
ture, it is eminently reasonable, and is therefore far 
more likely to come from Infinite Reason than the 
old and pernicious dogma of the fall of man. 

Is the doctrine of the Deity of Jesus reasonable? 
Is it reasonable that the finite be infinite, and that 
the infinite be finite? We are told that it is a mys- 
tery and be3^ond our comprehension. Of course the 
infinite is beyond our comprehension. But we can 
at least see that it is not finite. If Almighty God 
should tell us that two and two made five, should 
we be bound to accept that statement because it is 
called a mystery? There are things that are mys- 
terious to us, hemmed in as we are by flesh limita- 
tions; but do not let us make a mystery out of an 
absurdity. The Spiritualistic view of Jesus is nat- 
ural, reasonable,\and true. He was the most per- 
fect medium between mortal man and the spirit 
world that we know of. Pure, candid, and unselfish, 
he was filled with the spirit of good to his full, 
though finite capacity, and was indeed a manifesta- 
tion of the God Spirit in a human being. He 
claimed that, when he said, "I and my father are 



Why she became a Spiritualist. hi 

one." And he claimed no more than that, for he 
said, "My father is greater than I," and also, "I in 
them (his disciples), and thou in me, that we all 
may be made perfect in one." 

Is the atonement a reasonable doctrine? Is it 
just that persons who do wTong can get out of the 
consequences by appropriating to themselves the 
good deeds that some other being does? Kant felt 
that this substitutionary virtue was immoral, and we 
quite agree with him. It also causes immorality. 
It is pernicious to morals to let persons get the no- 
tion that their future condition depends on some- 
thing besides their own conduct. It is wicked to 
teach such false notions to children. It is such 
teachings as these that excuse the newspapers of the 
United States for presuming that a bank defaulter 
must, during some part of his career, have been a 
Sunday-school superintendent. What! commit a 
wrong act, and then expect the legitimate conse- 
quence of that act to be washed away by the blood 
of Jesus! 

Spiritualism shows us that our future condition 
will depend on our own conduct while here. Spirit- 
ualism teaches the reign of lazu, and not the anarchy 
of injustice. We also know that ample opportunities 
wall be presented to all spirits, by those more ad- 
vanced, to atone for their wrong, and cruel, and un- 
just acts. Progression is the law of the spirit world. 
The germ of good is implanted in every soul, and 



112 Why she became a Spiritualist. 

each soul will have an eternity for its development. 
The rapidity of that development will depend on the 
efforts and the earnestness of each soul. Each 
spirit will gradually become aware of the laws on 
which spiritual progression depends, and each will 
in its own good time adapt its conduct to those laws^ 
and enter on the eternal and upward path designed 
by its Creator. 

Is not this knowledge of progression more rea- 
sonable, and therefore more worth}^ of God, than 
the old doctrine of only two fixed states of the dead ? 

"Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right." 
Can we, darewQ believe that a soul will be eternally 
tortured, because it had no chance to develop aright 
here? Bigots may assert it, but as Whittier says, 

" Nothing- can be good in Him, 
Which would be evil in me." 

God is good. God made us right. He made <?//, 
that they may progress. What is the religion des- 
tined to be the religion of the human race.^ My 
friends, the name of that religion is "Progressive 
Spiritualism." 



Why SHE BECAME A Spiritualist. 113 



THK PROBI.EM. 

"I like a church; I like a cowl; 
I love a prophet of the soul; 
And on my heart monastic aisles 
Fall like sweet strains, or pensive smiles; 
Yet not for all his faith can see 
Would I that cowled churchman be, 

" "Why should the vest on him allure, 
Which I would not on me endure? 

" Not from a vain or shallow thought 
His awful Jove young Phidias brought; 
Never from lips of cunning fell 
The thrilling Delphic oracle; 
Out from the heart of nature rolled 
The burdens ot the Bible old; 
The litanies of nations came, 
Like the volcano's tongue of flame, 
Up from the burning core below, — 
The canticles of love and woe ; 
The hand that rounded Peter's dome, 
And groined the aisles of Christian Rome, 
Wrought in a sad sincerity; 
Himself from God he could not free; 
He builded better than he knew;— 
The conscious stone to beauty grew. 

" Know'st thou what wove yon wood-bird's nest 
Of leaves, and feathers from her breast? 
Or how the fish outbuilt her shell, 
Painting with morn each annual cell? 
Or how the sacred pine-tree adds 
To her old leaves new myriads? 
Such and so grew these holy piles, 
While love and terror laid the tiles. 

*' These temples grew as grows the grass; 
Art might obey, but not surpass. 
The passive master lent his hand 



114 Why she became a Spiritualist. 

To the vast soul that o'er him planned; 

And the same power that reared the shrine 

Bestrode the tribes that knelt within. 

Kver the fiery Pentecost 

Girds with one flame the countless host, 

Trances the heart through chanting choirs, 

And through the priest the mind inspires. 

The word unto the prophet spoken 

Was writ on tables 5'et unbroken; 

The word by seers or sibyls told, 

In groves of oak, or fanes of gold, 

Still floats upon the morning wind. 

Still whispers to the willing mind. 

One accent of the Holy Ghost 

The heedless world hath never lost. 

I know what say the fathers wise, — 

The Book itself before me lies, 

Old Chrysostom, best Augustine, 

And he who blent both in his line, 

Tbe younger Golden Lips or mines, 

Taylor, the Shakespeare of divines. 

His words are music to my ear, 

I see his cowled portrait dear; 

And yet, for all his faith could see, 

I would not the good bishop be." 

—Ralph Waldo Emerson. 



LECTURE VI. 

WHAT JESUS REALLY TAUGHT. 

In the preceding lecture, it was shown that rea- 
son is to be applied to all statements of a moral, re- 
ligious, or spiritual nature. We are alwaj^s to judge 
them by the standard of reasonableness. If a state- 
ment be reasonable, we are free to accept it, on 
sufficient grounds; if not reasonable, we should not 
accept it on any grounds whatever. 

This test is to be applied, of course, to whatever 
was taught by him who was, as far as we know, the 
best and the most spiritual of men. But the applica- 
tion of this test is not our present subject. On this 
occasion, we do not inquire whether the teachings of 
Jesus w^ere in accordance wdth reason, and therefore 
likely to be true. Our simple enquiry now is, 
"What did Jesus really teach?" 

We make this enquiry, because the church in gen- 
eral has presented Jesus of Nazareth as laying great 
stress on certain doctrines that were not really 
taught by him at all. The doctrines alluded to were 
proclaimed by certain of his followers who were led 
by Jewish prejudice to misconstrue his teachings. 
What did Jesus teach? Did he teach w^hat the 



ii6 Why SHE BECAME A Spiritualist. 

church has mainly taught these many hundred years, 
or did he specially teach the very things that the 
church has either wholly ignored, or else has made 
quite subordinate to what it calls the "saving" doc- 
trines? 

To understand more clearly how it came about 
that the church has so misconstrued his teachings, 
we will consider the religious views of his nation up 
to his time. Later, we will see what he really 
taught; and afterwards, how the teachings of the 
church since his time differ from his own. 

Well then, to begin with, what were the religious 
views of the Jews? Jesus was himself a Jew, that 
is, in parentage, in education, and perhaps in all his 
surroundings. What were the religious views of 
the Jewish nation? The Jews had been in existence 
as a separate nation for about two thousand years. 
Their founder, Abraham, was a Chaldee, and there- 
fore of the old Semitic race. Raising the veil that 
hides the remote past, we find there were three 
primitive communities : the Ar3^an, the Semitic, and 
the Turanian. The migrating Aryans settled Eu- 
rope, Persia, an4 Hindostan. The Semites occu- 
pied the valley of the Tigris and Euphrates and the 
adjacent regions. The Chaldees were a mixed 
race, having both Semitic and Turanian blood, with 
a preponderance of the former. Abraham being a 
Chaldee, the Jews are mostly Semitic. We, being 
descended from the Aryans, are of a separate race 



Why she became a Spiritualist. 117 

from the Jews, dating back to the remotest antiquity. 
It seems strange indeed that while most Christian 
nations hold to the personal god of the Aryans, they 
should cling so closelv to the sacred writings of a 
Semitic people. 

The Semitic race believed originally in one God. 
They adored one Supreme Being, and also did hom- 
age to intermediary deities, whose function w^as to 
go between the Supreme Being and man. The 
Arabians being also Semitic, we are not surprised 
at the success of Mohammedanism among them. 
According to :^he Hebrew Scriptures, the Assyrians 
worshiped one Supreme God; for we read in Jonah 
that he preached to the people of Ninevah that God 
was displeased by their wickedness, and that the 
whole city was afraid and repented in dust and ashes. 
Had they been idolaters alone, Jonah would have 
been obliged to convert them first to a belief in God. 
He appealed to their fear of the God whom their 
wicked deeds had displeased. While our ancestors, 
the Aryans, beheved in a personal and therefore a 
limited God, the Semites believed in a Supreme Be- 
ing. Abraham, then, got the notion of one God from 
his ancestors. Being highly mediumistic, he was 
told by a spirit to go west, and his strongly individ- 
ualized and egotistic nature led him to believe that 
these spiritual manifestations came from the Supreme 
God of his race. His migration with his family is 
the opening act in the drama of the Jewish race. 



IT.8 Why she became a Spiritualist. 

The posterity of Abraham went through many 
vicissitudes. A train of manifestations made through 
Jewish mediums by the spirit world led them into 
Egypt, and after a residence there of four hundred 
3^ears, brought them to Canaan, the country to 
which Abraham had migrated long before. 

The four hundred years in Egypt had their effect 
on the religious notions of this remarkable race. 
The origmal pure religion of Egypt had degenerated 
to the worship of many deities. The chief deity 
was Osiris, the representative of the ancient phallic 
worship, and he was worshipped mostly in the form 
of a bull. So the Jews became familiarized with the 
notion of worshiping a being in that form. We are 
not surprised then to find that when they lapsed 
into idolatry they were prone to make an idol of 
that form, as when Aaron made them a calf of gold 
at the time they thought that Moses had been de- 
stroyed by the eruption of Mt. Sinai. Jereboam, 
too, pandered to the notions gathered during their 
residence in Eg3^pt, when he set up the calves in 
Dan and Bethel. 

Moses, that remarkable medium of communica- 
tions from the spirit world, and the first great writer 
of the Jewish race, was familiar wdth the learning of 
Egypt. This great man recorded his own visions 
of the creation, wrote up the historical traditions of 
his people, led the Jews from bondage, gave them 
their system of theology, religious ritual, and juris- 



Why she became a Spiritualist. 119 

prudence, led them to the borders of Canaan, and 
then passed, like Mohammed, to "join his compan- 
ions on high," in the world of disembodied spirits. 

The political existence of the Jews began with 
their migration from Egypt. Having seized Canaan 
and exterminated its patriotic inhabitants, they were 
ruled by judges for four hundred years, and by 
kings for some six hundred more. Then they were 
captured and carried back to the old Semitic home. 
The remnant that returned to Canaan were har- 
assed by surrounding nations for perhaps four hun- 
dred years, and were at last subjugated by Rome. 
Few nations, perhaps no other nation, ever survived 
such vicissitudes. 

The religion of this noteworthy race consisted of 
two main points. These were the existence of one 
Supreme Being, and that this Supreme Being was 
to be propitiated by sacrifices. These sacrifices 
were mostly of animals; and, in extreme cases, of 
human beings, as in the case of the nearl}^ consum- 
mated sacrifice of Isaac, by his priest-father Abra- 
ham. There were then two fundamental ideas in 
the Jewish religion: one God, and the propitiation 
of the same by. blood offerings. Before the time of 
Moses, they offered as many animals as they chose. 
Moses fixed the kind of animals and their num- 
ber. An enormous number were killed every year. 
This daily slaughter produced such an amount of 
dangerous garbage, over and above the portions 



I20 Why she became a Spiritualist. 

that were eaten by the priests, that a fire was kept 
burning in the valley south of the temple, to con- 
sume the refuse. This fire was burning night and 
day in the spot called Gehenna, and it was to this 
familiar fact that Jesus alluded, when he spoke of 
evil things being burnt up in the place where "the 
fire is not quenched." Every day in every year, 
then, the Hebrew was familiar with the notion of 
blood being shed, in order to propitiate offended 
Deity. It was a fundamental notion of his religion. 
Did Jesus accept all this? Did Jesus think God 
was to be propitiated by a blood offering? He 
taught exactly contrary to this. He said it was use- 
less to carry a gift to the altar while the giver did 
not love his neighbor. When he was brought at 
the age of twelve to see the offerings at the temple, 
he asked questions of the learned Jews that they 
were unable to answer. Later, it was in the temple 
that he displayed a passionate anger that seemed 
foreign to his nature. Its ritual displeased him, for 
he thought that a man's conduct in daily life was a 
better sacrifice than that made by slaughtering an 
animal. He drOve the money changers out of the 
temple, and said that it ought to be a house of prayer 
for all nations, thus recognizing the universal broth- 
erhood of man, instead of the narrow Jewish exclu- 
siveness. See Mark ii: 17. So opposed was he 
to what the t3^pical Jew considered most important, 
that he awoke their bittej^est anger. 



Why she became a Spiritualist. 121 

Theologians claim that Jesus came to this world 
in order to die for mankind, and to save them by his 
shed blood. Did Jesus come for this purpose? If 
he did come on purpose to do this, he must have 
knozun it. And yet, during the three years that he 
went about, teaching his disciples and the people, 
did he once teach them that he had come in order 
to shed his blood for the sins of mankind? My "or- 
thodox" friend, }■ ou think that he thus taught. But, 
examine his words as recorded in the four Gospels, 
and not the epistles of certain Jews, penned after his 
execution, and see if that be the gist of his teachings. 
So far from declaring that he came in order to 
shed his blood, he declares plainly in Luke 4: 18, 
what he did come for. We there read, "To preach 
the gospel to the poor, to heal the broken-hearted, 
to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering 
of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are 
bruised." The only word in the foregoing that can 
be "construed to mean what the church has claimed, 
is the word gospel. And the meaning of that w^ord 
gospel has been misconstrued persistently by the 
"orthodox" clergy. They insist that gospel means 
the "good news" that sinners can be saved from 
being damned forever by being washed in the blood 
of Jesus. The "good news" spoken of is nothing 
of the kind. The good news spoken of is that 
there was peace and good will towards men. In- 
stead of teaching an offended Deity to be propitiated 



122 Why she beca:me a Spiritualist. 

by blood, Jesus taught God's good will to us, and 
that we should love one another. 

The forerunner of Jesus, John the Baptizer, taught 
repentance — another word sadly misconstrued by 
the "orthodox" clerg}-. The Greek word, metanoia, 
translated "repentance" in Protestant Bibles, and 
"do penance" in the Douay version, means, accord- 
ing to Greek scholars, not sorrow for sin, but a 
change of one's mind or governing purpose. To 
repent, then, is to change one's purpose in the con- 
duct of one's Hfe. Jesus also told them to repent, 
meaning to change their Hfe. 

Matthew gives us the longest report of any one 
of the discourses of Christ to the people. We call 
it the "Sermon on the Mount," sfnd it is found in 
the fifth, sixth, and seventh chapters of Matthew 
So clearly did this discourse embody the leading* 
opinions of Jesus on the conduct of life, that he re- 
peated it on a plain in Galilee, as recorded in the 
sixth chapter of Luke. What did Jesus teach in 
this memorable discourse? He taught that the 
blessed or happy ones were the poor m spirit, the 
meek, the merciful, the peace-makers, the pure in 
heart, and those that long or hunger to be good. 
He taught that it was wrong to feel anger, to hate, 
to lie, to think lustful thoughts, and to resist evil. 
He taught that men ought to love their enemies, 
that they should do charitable deeds unknown to 
others, and should pray in secret. He does not say 



Why she became a Spiritualist. 123 

one word of shedding his blood, and of saving them 
in that way. He commanded men to be perfect, 
just like the father in heaven. He thus left them to 
infer that such perfection was possible, and he 
makes no suggestion that his own goodness was to 
be applied in order to make up for their moral de- 
ficiencies. He says distinctly that men are to be 
known by their own fruits. He does not say that 
they can be justified by having the righteousness of 
some other being imputed to them. And what he 
said, he said with the authority of one who knew. 

When persons who had heard of his healing power 
came to him to be cured of their bodily diseases, he 
required from them or from some one connected 
with them the belief that he had the power to effect 
their cure. "Believest thou that I am able to do 
this?" "According to your faith be it done unto 
3^ou," were among his words to those who sought 
his aid. Their belief that he could cure them was 
an essential element. Their faith made him able to 
do it. Conversely, when faith on their part was 
wanting, he could not cure. In one place, he did 
not many mighty works because of their unbelief. 
His benevolence would certainly have led him to re- 
move all suffering, if the proper conditions could 
have been supplied. This remarkable medium be- 
tween the material and the spiritual word could draw 
healing power from above in proportion to the faith 
exercised by those who wanted help. There were 



124 Why she became a Spiritualist. 

two conditions then to the success of the effort: 
power poured into him from above, and behef on the 
part of the mortal. Evidently, his own power was 
not enough. In fact, he had no power of his own. 
It w^as imparted to him from above, when the faith 
was supplied from below. Those who examine the 
healing effected by mediums in our own day are 
aware that it is now the same as in the time of the 
great healer of Nazareth. 

Jesus was firm and courageous, and tried to in- 
spire his followers with the same spirit. He said 
they must give the world what he taught them, un- 
mindful of consequences. He said the}^ must do 
good on the Sabbath day, even though work were 
involved in the act. He taught his followers to dis- 
tinguish between the good and the bad, and said 
that the bad would all be eliminated in time, and be 
burned up. 

Many have thought that his statement that the bad 
in us shall be burned up meant an everlasting torment 
by fire. Such an inference could be made only in a 
barbarous and cruel age. What is the use of fire as 
an element in nature? Is its object to give torment? 
Is not fire rather the great purifier? Its power is 
exerted in nature, not with the object of giving pain, 
but with the intent to transmute what is hurtful into 
new and beneficent forms. Fire burns up the dross, 
and leaves the pure metal. Fire does good. The 
pain that comes from a violation of law, in either the 



Why she became a Spiritualist. 125 

natural or the spiritual world, is reformatory, and 
not punitive — theologians of the old school to the 
contrary! Jesus said the tares in our nature will 
be burned up, while the wheat in us will be saved, 
and we are glad that it is to be so. 

Jesus was a radical, and went against the teach- 
ings of the Jewish religionists of his time. He was 
aware that they were becoming more and more 
angry with him; and he, like Savonarola, foresaw 
his own judicial murder. If he had lived now, the 
church religionists of our day would scorn and hate 
him. They would despise a man who told the rich 
to give away all his money to the poor. Many of 
them would misconstrue the motives of a physician 
who could cure hundreds of dreadful diseases, and 
never charged a dollar for it. The church of to-day 
values material good, and pays the highest salary to 
the clergyman who can draw the best paying au- 
dience. Jesus taught that we should not desecrate 
spiritual things by bringing in the question of mak- 
ing money. 

His comprehensive mind summed up the ten com- 
mandments of Moses by two directions given to the 
heart of man: Love God, and Love your neighbor 
as yourself. By the parable of the Last Judgment, 
a parable wrongfully taken to be a prophecy regard- 
ing a future event in the history of the world, he 
shows the result of showing love or hate to our 
neighbors. He pictures men as standing before 



126 Why she became a Spiritualist. 

him as before a judge, in order to show the effect 
of their conduct to other persons. According to 
Calvinistic theology, those who had been washed in 
the blood of Jesus would be put on the right hand, 
and those who had refused to be saved in that way, 
on his left hand. Does he classify men according to 
any such narrow and arbitrary standard? By no 
means. Those who fed and clothed, and visited 
when ill and in prison, those who did as Jesus did, 
would be rewarded by happiness. Those who had 
neglected to do these benevolent and loving acts 
were to suffer for ages and ages. 

Whether Jesus intended to teach that persons 
would suffer eternally is doubtful. He certainly 
said that those who did not express a loving spirit 
by their actions would suffer a very long time. We 
are uncertain whether he thought the suffering 
would be eternal, because the Greek language, by 
v/hich he expressed his thoughts, has no word or 
words equivalent to our expressions, "eternal" and 
^'everlasting." He said in Greek that they would be 
in pain for eons on eons. Our word "forever," and 
the German "ewigkeit," convey an idea that cannot 
be conveyed by any Greek or Latin words. An 
eon is certainly a limited time, for the word can be 
made plural; and no multiple of a limited period can 
be synonymous with eternity. Jesus evidently 
thought the pain would be very long. But the pain 
was the consequence of an unloving spirit, and not 



Why she becaivie a Spirituaeist. 127 

the consequence of refusing salvation through him. 

Jesus did not seek an earthly kingdom. If he 
ever had desires of that kind they left him w^hen he 
withstood the temptation to misuse his mediumship. 
This temptation w^as presented to him by a low 
spirit when he was in a condition of unusual suscep- 
tibility by a long fast in solitude. Once conquered, 
it did not recur. 

He came to teach that God is spirit, and is to be 
adored by our spirit, and not by ritual forms. He 
taught that the spirit is more important than the 
body, because it survives the death of the body. 
He taught that our condition after leaving the body 
will depend on our own acts. He did not grasp the 
germ idea and the development of that germ by an 
infinite progression, as is done by seers of our own 
day. These later seers are abreast with the thought 
of the day, and are also taught by spirits who have 
profited by the precepts of Jesus during nearly two 
thousand years. 

Jesus said that when he should be lifted up he 
would draw all men to himself. His followers 
thought that by the lifting up he alluded to his death 
on the cross. What he really meant by being lifted 
up w^as his being taken out of the material world. 
Lifted up into the spirit w^orld, he does draw aspira- 
tional souls, and will continue to do so. His pure, 
self-sacrificing life, his uncomplaining death of agony, 
will draw hearts to him. He draws us, not because 



128 Why she became a Spiritualist. 

he was that dream of theologians, an incarnation of 
infinite God ; but because he was a man, and showed 
what a man could be. 

Well, what took place after the death of Jesus? 
He appeared to his disciples a few times by mate- 
rialization or etherealization, told them to teach to 
the world what he had taught them, and directed 
them to stay in Jerusalem until they should receive 
the same powers of healing and doing other won- 
ders that he had possessed. They followed his di- 
rections, and on the day of Pentecost, when all sit- 
ting quietly together, the power was manifested by 
a strong breeze and a light sitting on the head of 
each. Endued with the promised power, they be- 
gan to preach. The burden of their preaching w^as 
to repent, or change the course of life, and by bap- 
tism avow acceptance of the teachings of Jesus, who 
had died, and then arisen from the dead. The 
mediumistic powers conferred on these disciples 
caused many to accept their teachings, just as the 
same powers are now causing many to accept the 
teachings of Spiritualism, which is in truth the "sec- 
ond coming" of the "Christ" sfirit. 

But these early disciples were Jews, and imbued 
with the notion of propitiating the Deity by the 
shedding of blood. Besides, a natural and patriotic 
pride made them desire that the new doctrines should 
be in some way combined with the ancient and 
glorious ritual of the Temple service. Jesus had 



Why she became a Spiritualist. 129 

not restored the old political freedom for which they 
had longed. He had died a cruel and bloody death. 
Might it not be that his shed blood was to be taken 
as the great sacrifice to propitiate angered Deity, of 
which the slaughter of millions of animals was the 
type? This thought happily reconciled such incon- 
gruous elements as the failure to establish the king- 
dom, the humiliating and bloody death of their 
leader, and the old Jewish ritual. 

Then came the conversion of the apostle Paul, 
the man who had the strongest mind and the deep- 
est learning of all the early disciples. Converted by 
a spiritual manifestation, he was forced to accept 
Christ. Educated at the feet of most learned 
Rabbis and steeped in Jewish lore, familiar with the 
Mosaic ritual and therefore with the notion of ex- 
piating sin by the shedding of blood, endowed with 
rare power of reason and generalization, he formed 
the system know^n as the Pauline theology. Its 
corner-stone of proof rested on the fact that Jesus, 
w^ho had died, had manifested himself as alive. In 
his system, Paul combined with a belief in Jesus, the 
old Jewish notion that blood must be shed for sin. 
In his letters, especially the one addressed to the 
Hebrews themselves, he claims that all the millions 
of animals slain were typical of Jesus slain, and that 
the blood sacrifices culminated in the death of Jesus. 

At the same time, the thought crept into the 
minds of the disciples that the man Jesus was really 



I 

130 Why she became a Spiritualist. 

an incarnated Deity. That a god sometimes takes 
human form was a notion found in many religions. 
When the disciples walked with Jesus and heard him 
talk, they revered him, but they did not think of him 
as God. John, who saw his greatest "miracles," 
who lay on his breast in intimate friendship, and 
loved him with reverent devotion, did not then think 
of him as God. In later years, as the remembrances 
of his remote youth invested his wonderful friend 
with a divine halo, the thought grew in John that he 
was indeed God incarnate. Christians reasoned that 
the death of a mere man was not enough. Jesus 
had hung on the cross, shedding his blood. He had 
called himself son of man and son of God. It was 
earnestly claimed that he must have been God in- 
carnate, and therefore worth v of bein^" the realiza- 
tion of all the previous sacrifices. 

In which of the four gospels is the doctrine of the 
divinity of Jesus most positively maintained? If a 
clergyman be asked to prove from the Bible the 
deity of the Nazarene, to which book does he turn? 
He shows us passages in the gospel of John. Was 
John's gospel written at the time the other gospels 
were written? Friends, it was written long after. 
Matthew and Mark, who wrote their records soon 
after the execution of their master, give his life in 
detail. Luke wrote considerably later. The notion 
of the sacrificial character of his death had become 
more clearly defined; and we find that Luke brings 



Why she became a Spiritualist. 131 

that element into much greater prominence than 
Matthew and Mark had done. Long after the third 
Gospel had been penned, in fact about sixty years 
after the crucifixion, John, in his old age, wrote the 
Gospel that clearly stated the doctrine that the Naz- 
arene was Almighty God. That John does teach 
it clearly is evident to those who give a fair inter- 
pretation to his simple words. A Unitarian who 
washes to believe that all the Bible is inspired finds 
it somewhat difficult to reconcile John's words with 
a merely human Jesus. In John's extreme old age, 
the thought that the wonderful man of Judea was 
Deity himself had taken firm root in the church, and 
he embodies it firmly in the fourth and last record 
of what Jesus did and taught. 

One other letter addressed to the church in gen- 
eral was written by James, son of Joseph and Mary, 
and therefore own brother of Jesus of Nazareth. 
He is called James the Just, and was martyred by 
stoning about thirty years after his brother Jesus 
was crucified. His epistle differs widely from those 
written by Paul, and to my mind he clings more 
closely to "what Jesus really taught" than Paul did. 
He advocates works, and says that true faith is to be 
manifested by our acts. He shows much of the 
clear, incisive, radical spirit of his brother Jesus. 
Instead of thinking that pure religion consists in be- 
lieving that some one else's good works can be laid 
to our credit, he says that it consists in "visiting the 



132 Why she became a Spiritualist. 

fatherless and widows in their affliction, and in keep- 
ing one's self unspotted from the world." He 
sternly rebukes those who hope that their naked and 
hungry brothers may be clothed and fed, but who 
do not give them clothing and bread. He indig- 
nantly reproves those who give better seats to fine- 
ly dressed persons than to the poor. He rebukes 
hypocrisy and a censorious spirit and the love of 
money just as Jesus had done. Like Jesus, he says 
a man cannot serve God and mammon too. In fact^ 
we think the true teachings of Jesus have never 
been summed up better than they were by this 
James. It is very likely that the other disciples 
thought him somewhat unsound. Instead of mak- 
ing the "blood of Jesus" the most important thing, 
he never alludes to it at all. Like his single-eyed 
brother, w^ho was crucified for his radical teachings, 
he goes to the root of the matter and says we must 
be good ourselves, and that nothing else will avail. 
We have no doubt Paul thought he was doing 
right when he constructed that gigantic and perni- 
cious S3'stem known as the Pauline theology. A 
Jew, his national prejudices made him wish to com- 
bine the old sacrificial rites of the glorious old Tem- 
ple with the clearer, purer doctrines taught by Jesus. 
What the Nazarene really taught was spiritual, pure, 
and true. In combining with these pure teachings 
the horrible, propitiatory notions, he created a mon- 
strosity. The wrong and false graft on the pure 



Why she became a Spiritualist. 133 

plant of the doctrines of Jesus gave a wrong and 
false direction to the growth of the church. Paul 
meant well, but his perversion of the Christ teach- 
ings has prevented them from doing their proper 
work, for nearly two thousand years. But, thanks 
to the efforts of the spirit-world, a new light has 
dawned on this generation and the old wicked prej- 
udices are fast dropping away. The world is be- 
ginning at last to realize the truth of that corner- 
stone of "what Jesus really taught," "God is our 
father: all men are brothers." 



' Who fathoms the eternal thought? 
Who talks of scheme and plan? 
The Ivord is God! He need^th not 
The poor device of man. 

' And so beside the Silent Sea 
I wait the muffled oar; 
No harm from him can come to me 
On ocean or on shore. 

' I know not where God's islands lift 
Their fronded palms in air; 

I only know I cannot drift 
Beyond His love and care." 



134 Why she became a Spiritualist. 



ABOU BEN ADHKM. 



Abou Ben Adhera— may his tribe increase! 
Awoke one night from a deep dream of peace, 
And saw, within the moonlight in his room, 
Making it rich, and like a lily in bloom, 
An angel writing in a book of gold. 

' Exceeding peace had made Ben Adhem bold, 

And to the presence in the room he said, 
' What writest thou?' The vision raised its head, 

And, with a look made of all sweet accord, 

Answered, ' The names of those who love the Lord.' 
' And is mine one?' said Abou. ' Nay, not so,' 

Replied the angel. Abou spoke more low, 

But cheerily still; and said, ' I pray thee, then. 

Write me as one that loves his fellow-men.' 

The angel wrote and vanished. 

The next night 
It came again, with a great wakening light, 
And showed the names whom love of God had blessed, 
And lo! Ben Adhem's name led all the rest." 

\ — ivEiGH Hunt. 



LECTURE VII. 

THE SPIRITUALISM OF JESUS. 

Before speaking directly of the Spiritualism of the 
Nazarene, it seems necessary to clear away a notion 
that long clouded our own mind, when thinking of 
the acts of this remarkable being. This same no- 
tion permeates the Christian church, and deprives 
its members of a true view of his personality. We 
refer to the opinion that Jesus was in any sense su- 
pernatural. We would not wish to be wanting in 
reverence. We do with all our heart reverence the 
Nazarene. We only wish to point out clearly that 
he was not supernatural. 

By the word supernatural is meant the quality of 
being beyond or outside of the forces of nature. 
A book by a clear-seeing thinker of our day, Hen- 
ry Drummond, entitled "Natural Law in the Spirit- 
ual World," bears on this point, that all that hap- 
pens, in the physical and also in the spiritual world, 
is under Nature's laws, and is therefore natural. 
The consideration that draws man3aTiinds irresistibly 
to Spiritualism is the reasonable and beautiful doc- 
trine that all things, both in the body and out of the 
bod}^ are subject to Nature's laws. Ought we to 



136 Why she became a Spiritualist. 

like what is natural? Ought we to like what is nor- 
mal? A mother who is cruel to her own offspring 
awakens the disgust of all. We express our repug- 
nance to her conduct by calling her unnatural. A 
cancer, a tumor, a diphtheritic membrane is an ab- 
normal or an unnatural growth that finally implicates 
the whole system. A two-headed calf is a mon- 
strosity. It is against the laws of nature, and can- 
not be seen with pleasure by a person of pure taste. 
We are repelled by it, while what is in accordance 
with law and order is pleasing to a well-balanced 
mind. 

A common superstition is that when we leave the 
body we at once become outside of and beyond 
the laws of Mother Nature. Nothing can be furth- 
er from the truth. We Spiritualists have learned 
that when we leave the body, we feel just as natu- 
ral as we do now. Mrs. Oliphant's beautiful sketch, 
"A Little Pilgrim," brings out this fact in clear re- 
lief. When we experience the change called death, 
shall we feel as if we were dead? Not at all. Many 
who drop the worn body are astonished to find that 
they feel Sil'nx, and just the same, except that they 
are freer and relieved from much that annoyed them 
before. Feeling as alive as ever, and conscious of 
a body, they are quite amazed that their friends yet 
in the flesh do not hear their voices, and do not feel 
th-eir caresses any more. 

We once heard Joseph Cook sa}', "Nature is an 



Why she became a Spiritualist. 137 

effect, of which God is the cause." Before Mr. 
Cook, Cowper said in "The Task," 

" Nature is but a name for an effect, 
Whose cause is God." 

We Spiritualists do not claim that we can com- 
prehend God, as some of the old theologians seem 
to have claimed. We do not claim that we can 
measure absolute being, that we can analyze illimit- 
ability, and give attributes to the infinite Hfe that 
pervades each and all. But we do claim that infinite 
life /5, and that infinite life in motion is manifested by 
what we call the laws of Nature. We also claim 
that these natural laws pervade all beings and all 
worlds; all physical and all spiritual beings, as well 
as all physical and all spiritual worlds. 

Do Spiritualists then believe in miracles.^ Cer- 
tainly not. The devout church-member cries, 
"What! do you not think that Jesus did miracles?" 
No : we know that Jesus did no miracles. We know 
that Jesus did all that he did under natural laws. 
He violated no law, he contradicted no law. Many 
thinp-s that he did seemed miraculous to men who 
did not understand the natural laws of physical and 
spiritual existence so well as he did. He undoubt- 
edly knew how to adapt himself to those laws bet- 
ter than most men who have walked the earth. 

What is a miracle? The dictionary defines a mir- 
acle as an event or effect contrary to the constitution 
and course of nature. In short, it violates nature, 



138 Why she became a Spirituaeist. 

because it is superior to it, and we call it a supernat- 
ural thing. Hume did not believe in miracles. But 
Hume was no atheist. He believed in God, and 
that God manifested himself in the laws of nature. 
Believing that natural law is God in action, he did 
not believe that the Bible could be proved to be 
from God, by miracles or deviations from that law. 
Hume believed that the laws of Nature were the 
true and everlasting manifestation of the Deity. He 
said it was therefore absurd to the last degree that 
God should manifest his agency in the Bible by de- 
viating from his own lavvs. The church of his day 
said Chistianity and the Bible rested directly on these 
deviations from natural law. So Hume rejected the 
Bible, and was condemned by the clergy. But he 
was a truthful, humane, pure man, and was not con- 
demned when he passed into spirit life. He was 
ostracized as an infidel here. But he was welcomed 
to pure and joyous circles when he entered the 
spirit-world, for his vision of universal law was clear ; 
and while he had his experience in earth life, he en- 
deavored to adapt his own conduct to that law. 

With regard to those things related in the Bible 
that seem strange, we Spiritualists claim that they 
may be true, if they can be shown to be in accord- 
ance with the laws of nature. A better understand- 
ing of those laws, and especially of those that gov- 
ern the spiritual world and its relations to this, will 



Why she became a Spiritualist. 139 

give a natural explanation of many things that men 
have thought miraculous or supernatural. 

How many learned men have puzzled themselves 
as to what Socrates meant by his attendant spirit! 
It is w^ell known that this famous Greek said he had 
a spirit that directed him in his conduct. He called 
this attendant his "daimon," a word meaning "spirit," 
in the Greek. Philosophers have asked what Soc- 
rates could possibly have meant by such a claim. 
Some of them think he meant his conscience. Oth- 
ers say he meant the still, small voice of God in his 
soul. Some think that as Socrates thought he had 
an attendant spirit, he was, though sane on all other 
points, out of his head on this one point. We are 
forcibly reminded here that some men in our own 
day and generation are considered of <'sound dis- 
posing mind" on all points except that they are 
Spiritualists. Well, we will not be discouraged, 
brothers and sisters in Spiritualism. The tables will 
turn by and by. The time will come when those 
who are not Spiritualists will be the ones that the 
world will call unsound. 

But, to return to Socrates, his attendant spirit, his 
"daimon," which has been such a puzzle to students 
of classic lore, is no puzzle to us Spiritualists. Be- 
ing a good man, and a spiritual man, and also medi- 
umistic, Socrates drew to himself a spirit of a high 
order, that could manifest his individual existence to 
him. Being clairaudiant, he could hear the voice 



140 Why she became a Spiritualist. 

of this spirit directing him on important occasions. 
The great mystery is no mystery at all to those who 
have studied the natural laws that govern spirit man- 
ifestations. The absolute knowledge that Socrates 
possessed of the immortality of the soul proves 
that he had something more than reason alone to 
give him that assurance. Read the "Krito" and the 
"Phgedo," and you will see that this noblest of the 
Greek philosophers w^as a Spiritualist. "How do 
you wish us to bury you?" asked Crito. "Just as 
you please," answered Socrates, quietly laughing 
and glancing at us, "if you only get hold of me, and 
do not let me escape you." Socrates knew he 
would live after his body died, because he had seen 
spirits, and knew somewhat of their mode of life. 

The mystery of the "voices" and the "communi- 
cations," and the "revelations" to Joan of Arc, com- 
pletely disappears under the light of Spiritualism. 
According to "natural law in the spiritual world," 
she w^as clairvoyant and clairaudiant. Being ex- 
ceedingly pure, simple, and patriotic, as well as 
mediumistic, spirits of the same kind were drawn to 
her. Through her instrumentality, these disem- 
bodied spirits of France did deeds for their loved 
country that will cause the name of the holy Maid 
to be revered by patriotic Frenchmen to the end of 
time. 

An unprejudiced study of spirit power and spirit 
manifestations will show that many things that Jesus 



Why she became a Spiritualist. 141 

did may also be done by those who yield themselves 
to spirit influenc3, and obey the laws of the spirit 
world, just as he did. We learn in the same way 
that if Jesus is said to have done anything con- 
trary to the laws of nature, that thing is not true. 
But, before rejecting the truth of anything claimed 
to have been done by him, we must be very careful 
that we know the natural laws bearing on that point. 
Further investigation may show men like Hume that 
some of the things rejected as miraculous may really 
be in accordance with natural forces not yet fully 
understood. In like manner, let us be very careful, 
before rejecting any of the phenomena claimed by 
Spiritualists, that we understand the natural laws 
bearing on these special phenomena. If we do re- 
ject phenomena that really rest on natural law, we 
may, in Bible language, find ourselves among those 
who "fight against God," for we admit that "Nature 
is an effect, of which God is the cause." 

In what did the Spiritualism of Jesus consist? In 
other words, what were the physical, mental, and 
spiritual qualities of Jesus that made him remarkably 
accessible to spirit influences, and a fit instrument by 
which the forces of the spirit world could act upon 
men still in the body? 

In the first place, Jesus of Nazareth belonged to a 
race which was highly mediumistic from its begin- 
ning. Abraham, the great founder of the Jewish 
nation, could see spirits and hear spirit voices, and 



142 Why she became a Spiritualist. 

he received many communications from the spirit 
world. Isaac also acted under spirit direction. 
Jacob was more mediumistic than Isaac, and in him 
the medial gifts of his grandfather were revived and 
perhaps increased. He saw angels going to heaven 
on a ladder and returning thence, he wrestled with 
a materialized spirit, and he became wealthy through 
spirit power. Joseph had a cup by which he divined, 
and "coming events cast their shadows before" for 
him, in his prophetic dreams. Moses was a really 
wonderful medium. In addition to the natural 
powers of his race, the laws of spirit communication 
known to the priests of Egypt were taught to him 
in his education at the Egyptian court. He was a 
great seer, and he recorded in Genesis his vision of 
the creation and the development of the world. He 
saw the successive stages of creation in a vision, and 
called these stages successive daj^s, for they seemed 
to be days to him. His rod was so charged with 
magnetism that spirits who desired to free the Jews 
from Egyptian bondage brought on the plagues by 
means of this rod when wielded by Moses. The 
Red Sea w^s divided by the same power, and 
manna was materialized for their sustenance in the 
wilderness. David was an inspirational medium. 
All the old prophets spoke and prophesied under 
spirit influence, clear down to Malachi. Then for 
about four hundred years, this mediumistic power 
seems to have diminished, but it was revived in Jesus 



Why she became a Spiritualist. 143 

of Nazareth to an astonishing degree. In that 
superstitious age, when the powers of nature were 
but Httle understood, his deeds seemed miraculous, 
and a proof of his divine origin. 

Jesus had a pure and healthful body. Being a 
Nazarene from his birth, he had never tasted fer- 
mented liquor. The poison of alcohol had never 
entered his body, to dull his brain, inflame his stom- 
ach, and interfere with the hfe processes of the 
tissues. Tobacco was then unknown, and the de- 
velopment of the mind and body of Jesus was not 
hindered by its use. Endowed with a magnificent 
and yet a very sensitive physique, he never debased 
it by the slightest sensuality. In him the mind was 
fully regnant over the body. He lived almost 
wholly out of doors; and his constant walking kept 
him close to nature, and in harmony with the mag- 
netic currents of the earth. His mother was herself 
a medium, for she saw angels and talked with them. 
She was rarely spiritual, and drew the best sort of 
influences to herself. Jesus was her first-born son, 
and the rare gifts of Mary were transmitted to him 
in all their freshness and all their purity. His father 
Joseph was a good man. He was a man of action 
and courage, as well as accessible to spirit influence ; 
for when a spirit warned him of danger to his first- 
born child, he started in the night for distant Egypt 
with his young wife and baby-boy. 

Jesus was brought up in a pure, quiet, Jewish 



144 Why she became a Spiritualist. 

home. He was bred to a trade, and his body was 
developed by healthful toil. As nothing is recorded 
of him between the ages of twelve and thirty, and as 
he gave many precepts akin to those of Buddha, 
some have inferred that he spent a portion of those 
eighteen years in India. Such may have been the 
case. 

At any rate, on reaching the age of thirty, there 
he was in Judea, the purest, the most spiritual, and 
the most gloriously endowed man in the whole Ro- 
man Empire. His body was perfect; his mind was 
intuitional, clear, and strong; his spirit was courage- 
ous and true, and had the power of looking through 
all shams, down to the very root or core of every 
subject that was presented to him. And he was 
conscious of other powers of a spiritual nature that 
set him apart from other men. At thirty, all his 
powers, physical, mental, and spiritual, had reached 
their maturity; and the time came to him, as it 
comes to all, when he must' decide what to do with 
his powers. To solve this vital question, he se- 
cluded himself in a lonely wilderness for nearly six 
weeks. Hev knew that he had rare powers of a 
spiritual nature. He was clairvoyant and clairaudi- 
ant. He was a medium through whom matter could 
be disintegrated and recomposed by spirits in the 
spirit-world. He was endowed with magnetic heal- 
ing currents that sent new life through all with whom 
he came in contact. "What shall I do with all this?" 



Why she became a Spiritualist. 145 

was the question that came to this wonderful scion 
of the Jewish race. At last, worn by fasting, the 
temptation came to him to make a material and a 
selfish use of his powers. He was very hungry, and 
stones could be turned into bread if he chose to use 
his mediumship in this way. Wealth was clearly at 
the command of one who should develop his power 
in this direction. Jesus did not so choose. Shall he 
dazzle and astonish mankind by leaping from the 
topmost spire of the temple? He knew he could do 
this feat with safety, for his attendant spirits were 
familiar with laws employed by spirits in our time, 
who raise pianos to the ceiling, and gently bring 
them down again. But no: he will not debase his 
mediumship by trying to astonish the world by its 
exercise. 

Another temptation came to him. Milton calls 
the love of fame "the last infirmity of noble minds." 
Jesus, like all highly endowed men, had a desire to 
influence men and nations by his powers. More 
wonderfully gifted than Gyges, the shepherd who 
reached a throne by the power of his magic ring, 
shall he aim to reach the summit of earthly power? 
Judea was then crushed under Rome. Patriotism 
might well justify him in seeking to free his native 
land. An execrable man, Tiberius, was emperor of 
Rome. Abandoned to sensual pleasures, he was 
rioting on a distant island. A corrupt prime minis- 
ter was plotting against him in Rome. Shall Jesus 



146 Why she bp:came a Spiritualist. 

work on from point to point, till Tiberius himself 
be dethroned, and he, a Jew, hold the scepter of the 
Roman world? "No, no!" was his reply to these 
ambitious promptings. 

Why did Jesus say no to such temptations? It 
was because he clearly saw, like Socrates and Plato, 
that this physical world is but the temporary shadow 
of eternal realities. He clearly saw that the real 
world is the unseen one, beyond the ken of the 
phj'sical eye. Instead of using his great powers for 
temporary and shadowy good, he chose to use them 
for objects that have a permanent value. His decis- 
ion was made to use his mediumsliip in order to 
lessen human misery, in order to teach men to build 
their permanent homes in spirit-land, in order to 
purify man, and to raise him to a more spiritual 
plane. Then and there, Jesus decided to mould his 
life according to the principles laid down in his un- 
paralelled parable of the *'Last Judgment." This is 
a story by which he illustrates the effect on our fu- 
ture state of kind and loving acts or those of an op- 
posite character. It is no more to be taken literally 
than the illustration of the maidens who were going 
to the wedding feast, or of the servants to whom 
their master had entrusted his money, that are re- 
corded by Matthew in the same chapter. In this 
fable of what men have called "The Last Judgment," 
Jesus simply taught that the kind and loving ones are 
fitted to go into bliss on leaving the body; while the 



Why she becAxME a Spiritualist. 147 

selfish and unlovinor will have to remain in an un- 
happy condition for ages and ages. 

Let us now consider some of the evidences of the 
mediumistic powers of this man of Nazareth. Let 
us first call to mind the trinal nature of man, so far 
as disembodied spirits have been able to analyze it 
for us. The most advanced spirits generally agree 
that we now consist of physical body, spiritual body, 
and soul. With the organs of our physical body, 
we become cognizant of, and we can affect, material 
substances and organizations. Some of the phases 
ot mediumship lie in the development of the senses of 
the spiritual body. In clairvoyance, the eyes of the 
spiritual body are so developed that by them we can 
see the spiritual bodies of spirits, hi clairaudiance, 
the ears of our spiritual bodies can take cognizance 
of sounds in spirit life. The physical, or natural 
body of Jesus (See i Cor. 15: 44) was perfect. 
His spiritual body was also pertectly developed. 
The spiritual garment of his soul was normally per- 
fected. He could therefore see spiritual realities 
with his spiritual eyes, just as plainly as we see 
ph3'sical things with our physical eyes. Hence, he 
knew the reality of the world of spirit. His medium- 
ship was pertect, natural, and normal. Ours should 
aim to be the same; and the time will come when 
all men and women who will then dwell on the earth 
plane will be just as cognizant of spirit life as Jesus 
was. He saw spirits and talked with them. 



148 Why she became a Spiritualist. 

What were some of the other phases of his me- 
diumship? He was probably the greatest heahng- 
medium that has ever walked the earth. And true 
to his resolution to relieve human sufferinij as far as 
possible, he exercised his healing powers more than 
any other spiritual phase. As Luke says, "Virtue 
went out from him, and healed them all." Man}- 
particular cases of his curing disease are recorded, 
and unnumbered cases are spoken of in the mass. 

But this wonderful healing power of Jesus seems 
to have depended on certain conditions. It was 
necessary that the diseased person should believe in 
the power of Jesus to heal him. The accomplish- 
ment of the cure depended on two things : the power 
exerted through Jesus, and the confidence of the 
sick man in that power. Having assured himself 
that the sick man believed in his power, the healing 
spirits that used him as their instrument were able 
to pour the life-giving currents through him into the 
sufferer, and the diseased condition gave way to 
normal well-being. 

If healing mediums of this day wish to attain the 
power of JesUs, they must try to attain those condi- 
tions under which he worked. Jesus had bodily 
vigor, inherited from pure parentage and from right 
habits of life. He lived much in the open air, he 
was perfectly pure and temperate regarding all the 
bodily appetites, he was totally indifferent to money- 
making, he lived for others and not for himself, and 



Why she became a Spiritualist. 149 

he relied wholly on the powers above him. A me- 
dium in whom all these conditions are found can 
heal like Jesus. 

He healed bodily ailments. Crowds drew on his 
magnetic powers. When so worn out that spirits 
could no longer act through him, he withdrew from 
the multitude to some solitary place. On some 
mountain top, in some deep wood, heart to heart 
with Mother Nature, his powers were recuperated 
by the spirits with whom he communed, and he then 
entered new magnetic conditions in another village. 

But he healed not onl}^ diseases of the physical 
body. He also freed those who were under obses- 
sion of undeveloped spirits. His pure strong per- 
sonality could control such spirits, and his will-power 
forced them to leave their temporary abiding place. 
Many of the insane in our asylums are enthralled by 
undeveloped spirits who cling to the earth-plane. 
Well would it be for them if those in authority could 
allow pure mediums, who know how, to free these 
poor unfortunate victims. Other conditions of in- 
sanity result from diseased conditions of the mere 
body, which temporarily hinder the mind from ex- 
pressing itself. Good magnetic mediums would aid 
such cases far more than doctors by the exhibition 
of drugs. The inmates of insane hospitals will be 
greatly helped by increased knowledge of the laws 
of Spiritualism. 

Did Jesus raise persons from the dead? We 



150 Why she bjscame a Spiritualist. 

know that he did not, for he did not break the laws 
of Nature. When the vital cord that unites the 
spiritual body to its fleshly covering has been once 
severed, it never unites again. The three cases of 
raising from the dead by the Nazarene that the 
church claims are those of the daughter of Jairus, 
the widow of Nain's son, and Lazarus. In two of 
these cases, Jesus said expressly that they were 
asleep. See Luke 8:52 and John ii:ii. Not one 
of the three was dead at all. Each one was in a 
trance sleep. The magnetic vitality of Jesus freed 
them from this trance; and Elisha did the same for 
the son of the Shunamite woman, as recorded in 
2 Kings 4:33 — 36. The physicians of the time 
thought they were dead. They sometimes think so 
now, when the entranced person is in a trance sleep. 
Irving Bishop was in such a trance; and when the 
mistaken surgeons plunged their lancets into his vi- 
tal organs, they caused the vital cord to part, that 
in all probability was as yet intact. 

Jesus, like many seers, could prophesy truly re- 
garding the future. Spirits who are disembodied 
can see causes' and their ultimate results to better ad- 
vantage than those who are hampered by physical 
bonds. They communicate their foreknowledge, 
which is based on the relations of existing facts, to 
their mediums; and they thus enable them to proph- 
esy, as Jesus and the ancient Hebrew prophets did. 

His turning the water into wine and making of 



Why she became a Spiritualist. 151 

bread are no more wonderful than the creation of 
dewy flowers within closed slates. This latter thing 
has been actually done, under absolute test condi- 
tions, not once, but many, many times in the United 
States during the past thirty years. Great loaves 
and hams and other edible articles have been either 
made, or conveyed by spirits, to mediums under ab- 
solute test conditions. Those who have seen a 
chest with six men on it pushed across a room by 
invisible power, and those who have seen a medium 
carried out of a window and brought back again by 
invisible hands, are not surprised to read that this 
wonderful medium of Judea could walk on the 
water without sinking. If the spirits really stilled a 
storm through the mediumship of Jesus, we cannot 
claim, as yet ^ that this has been done of late. But 
as mediumship advances, it may be done in the fu- 
ture. A hundred years ago, we could not have 
made men think that a heavy train of cars could go 
by the expansive force of invisible steam. And ten 
years ago, we did not believe that cars could be 
propelled by the still more wierd and intangible 
electricity. 

Many who have not investigated spiritualism are 
unable to believe that a piano can rise to a ceiling, 
unsupported by any props. But this has happened 
many times. Spirits tell us that they have learned 
how to neutralize the power of gravitation, tempor- 
arily and within a limited space. Intelligent and 



152 Why she became a Spiritualist. 

scientific spirits who are freed from the body can do 
as wonderful things in spirit, as can Watt, and 
Morse, and Edison, in the body. 

One of the wonders done by Jesus has been often 
paralleled by the materializing mediums. We re- 
fer to the transfiguration scene. This was not done 
in the presence of the multitude. On the top of a 
mountain, accompanied by the three most medium- 
istic disciples — Peter, James, and John — he was 
transfigured; and Moses and Eiias, who had been 
in spirit life 1450 and 900 years, were materialized 
so that the three mediums saw them. Peter pro- 
posed then and there to make three cabinets, one 
for Jesus, and one for Moses and one for Elias, in 
order to retain these delightful conditions. 

As to the resurrection of the physical body of 
Jesus, as claimed by the church, we object to it on 
the ground of materialism. We fail to see the use 
of a flesh body in spirit life. Moreover, if the cord 
that united his ph3^sical and his spiritual body were 
really severed, it could not be re-united without 
violating natural law. Of course, hanging on the 
cross a part of one day need not necessarily have 
caused the death of his body. But on the other 
hand, John, who was an eye-witness, says he was 
pierced in the heart with a spear, and a wound like 
that inevitably separates the spirit from the body. 

We do not blame honest skeptics for saying that 
the body of Jesus, really dead, did not come to life 



Why she became a Spiritualist. 153 

again. We say the same. But we, who have ac- 
tually seen many temporary materializations of the 
"dead," and many etherealizations of them, have no 
difficulty whatever with the statement that Jesus was 
seen and handled by the disciples after the body had 
died. These appearances were always in the pres- 
ence of mediums. Peter, James, and John, the 
strongest mediums, were generally present. The 
appearances took place at night, or in the early 
morning twilight. So the most favorable conditions, 
as known to us, i. e. the presence of mediumistic 
persons, and a subdued light, were presented on 
these occasions. His first materialization was in the 
early twilight, to Mary Magdalene. She was a 
strong medium, and was at one time obsessed by 
seven spirits, from whose tyranny she was freed by 
Jesus. His last materialization was on a mountain 
in Galilee, with eleven disciples present. Even on 
that occasion, though all saw him and worshipped 
him, some doubted. See Matt. 28: 17. So some in 
our own day doubt spiritual manifestations. They 
want to believe, but materialistic notions cling to 
them, and make them doubt the evidence of their 
own senses. 

Jesus was a medium, or a mediator, in the truest, 
purest sense. He was a medium between the physi- 
cal world where we now dwell, and the spirit world. 
His life was a beautiful and perfect one. His death 
was pathetic, and even sublime, in its patient endur- 



154 Why she became a Spiritualist. 

ance of terrible physical suffering. No such trying 
circumstances attended the transition of Socrates. 
His death was painless, and only the sobs and tears 
of his friends marred the ease with which his spirit 
parted from the body. Jesus, on the contrary, after 
a night of torment and insult, hung on a cross in the 
utmost bodily agony that that cruel age could devise. 
In excruciating pain, hounded by malicious enemies, 
and temporarily triumphed over by bad spirits, his 
faith in the future life held firm, and we rejoice to 
think that all this pain was at last '-^ finished.^'' 

A matchless life! Let us imitate him in all. 
When his precepts are followed, and his life is imi- 
tated by all on the earth-plane, then will Spiritualism, 
pure and unadulterated, be the religion of the world. 



Why she became a Spiritualist. 155 



TO HIS SOUI,. 



■ Vital spark of Heavenly flame, 
Quit, oh ! quit this mortal frame. 
Trem.bling', hoping, lingering-, sighing, 
Oh! the pain, the bliss of dying! 
Cease, fond nature, cease thy strife, 
And let me languish into life. 

'Hark! they whisper; angels say, 

' Sister spirit, come away.' 
What is this absorbs me quite, 
Steals my senses, shuts my sight. 
Drowns my spirit, draws my breath? 
Tell me, my soul, can this be death? 

' The world recedes; it disappears; 
Heaven opens on my eyes; my ears 
With sounds seraphic ring; 
Lend, lend your wings. I mount! I fly! 
O grave, where is thy victory? 
O death, where is thy sting?" 

— Alexander Pope. 



Pope wrote to his friend Steele in regard to the composition of this 
poem, " It came to me the first moment I waked this morning." 



LECTURE VIIL 

SPIRITUALISTIC MANIFESTATIONS THE FOUNDATION 
OF ALL THE RELIGIONS. 

In considering this subject, let us first seek to es- 
tablish in our minds a clear notion of the meaning of 
the word "reliorion." The derivation of the word 
will aid us here. "Religion" is derived from "re," 
back, again, anew, and "legere," to gather what we 
read, speak, and think; or "ligare," to bind. We pre- 
fer the latter derivation. According to this, religion 
is that which binds us back, or again, to something 
to which we really belong. The church would say 
that religion is that which binds us back again to the 
Supreme Being. In Raphael's painting of "The 
school of Athens," he has Plato stand with his hand 
raised to heaven, in allusion to his doctrine that from 
God everything is derived, and to God it will finally 
return. This thought of Plato is a noble idealiza- 
tion of the priestly view of religion. We Spiritual- 
ists accept that view in part, but we think that it 
savors too much of theology, and does not sufficiently 
emphasize the everlasting personality and individu- 
ality of the human soul. We add to the thought of 
Plato, that religion, in its truest sense, is that which 

binds the soul lovingly and indissolubly to all other 

156 



Why she became a Sph^itualist. 157 

souls, whether individualized or absolute. Our soul 
is now somewhat hampered in its expression by its 
physical clothing and material surroundings ; and the 
religion of Spiritualism links us with sweet enthrall- 
ment to all embodied spirits, and especially to all dis- 
embodied spirit, or spirits, that pervade the universe. 
We say that it binds us especially to the disembodied, 
because, from their freer condition they can teach 
us things we cannot yet know for ourselves, and 
they can meet and aid our aspirations. Religion 
surely fails of its mission, unless it tends to raise us 
to a higher spiritual plane. It puts us then into 
vital connection with all progressive, aspirational 
souls; and, in its largest sense, this connection is in- 
evitable with all such souls, be they freed from earth 
conditions, or still linked to the fleshly covering. 

Before proceeding, we wish to point out that re- 
ligion is to be distinguished from theology. Relig- 
ion is purely subjective, as it has to do with the re- 
lations that we as individual spirits sustain to the 
individual or collective spirits of the universe. Each 
one's religion, then, is for himself alone. Its satis- 
faction and its joy rest in the fact that it is the per- 
sonal possession of the soul to whom it belongs. 
"A stranger doth not intermeddle with his joy." 
Theology, on the other hand, is objective. It has to 
do with a being outside of one's self, a being whose 
attributes are carefully mapped out by those wise 
individuals, the theologians of the old school. They 



158 Why she became a Spiritualist. 

define a personal being, and they give the name of 
God to this personalit}^ They make him separate 
from those he created; and, having put him on a 
pedestal all by himself, they tell us to worship him. 
They think they know all about God, and they call 
this knowledge theology. This distinction between 
religion and theology explains the claim of many 
Spiritualists, that they do have a religion, while the 
true Spiritualist refuses to accept such a thing as 
theology. 

Let us now go on to show that the same spiritual 
manifestations that form the basis of Spiritualism 
also form the foundation of all the religions of the 
world. And if it be shown that just such manifesta- 
tions form the original foundation of the reliorion 
prevalent in this countr}^ then the attempt which the 
church makes to put down Spiritualism, the very 
prop on which Christianity itself rests, will seem ab- 
surd to the last degree. It would be somewhat like 
a child sitting on his father's lap, who tries to upset 
the chair that supports his father. It is like a bird 
sitting on his nest, who tries to uproot the tree on 
which his nest is resting. 

Now, how does a religion have its origin? We 
can conceive of two ways. What are they? One 
way may be that one man, or several men, put their 
reasoning powers together, think out what elements 
would be suitable for a new rehgion, and then form 
these elements into a system. The scheme being 



Why she became a Spiritualist. 159 

perfected, they then propose it to other persons, de- 
clare that they have adopted it as their own, and 
advise others to take it on the ground that it is a 
very good kind of a rehgion. How many persons 
w^ould adopt a rehgion that w^as presented to them 
on such grounds? Would not those who w^ere 
urged to join the new faith say, "You want me to 
believe such and such things. How do you knozu 
that these things are true? What proof can you 
give of their truth?" The originators of the new 
scheme will say that they have thought it out, have 
brought into the scheme what they think is true, 
and they point out the merits of the new^ rehgion. 
Those whom they are trying to convert will natur- 
ally say that if that is all the ground that they have 
to rest on, they can themselves go to work to make 
up a religion that will probably suit them better, as 
it will be the product of their own minds, and will 
therefore be better adapted to their own needs. 
When the early apostles asked men to accept Chris- 
tianity, they did not ground the new religion on its 
being a coherent assemblage of good notions. 
They grounded it on certain spiritual manifestations 
made by the founder, some of which they could 
themselves reproduce. On account of these spirit- 
ual phenomena, they claimed that the new religion 
had a divine origin. 

What is the other way in which a religion may 
originate? A man, or some men, find that under 



i6o Why she became a Spiritualist. 

certain conditions or at certain times, they fall into a 
state during the continuance of which ideas come to 
them regarding moral truth, or the Supreme Being, 
or future events, or the nature of the world beyond 
the grave, which do not come to ordinary men, nor 
to themselves under ordinary conditions. They are 
themselves convinced that some outside force, that 
some outside spiritual power takes hold of them, 
and that they receive from this external spiritual 
power, communications that are beyond the ability 
of man to produce in and of himself. On these 
grounds, they adopt these religious views as the 
truth; and, being true and of vital importance, they 
wish to communicate them to other persons, so as 
to induce them also to receive these views as the 
truth. In this way is the religion begun, and in 
this way does it begin to spread. Is it not proba- 
ble that each religion of the world has had its orig- 
in in some such wa}^ as has just been described? 

Of course those bigots who claim that their own 
religion is the only true one, and that all who do 
not adopt it will be damned forever, think that their 
special religion was given to its originators by Al- 
mighty God himself. This claim rests on the opin- 
ion that God has chosen out one nation from all the 
rest, and that he has given to that nation the one 
only true religion. This notion is a very selfish 
one. It is indeed wicked, for it goes directly 
against the truth that every human being derives 



Why she became a Spiritualist. i6i 

his individual existence from infinite life, that all are 
equally the offspring of that infinite source, and that 
all human beings are therefore brothers. Jesus 
formulated this glorious and comprehensive truth 
when he declared, "All ye are brethren: one is 
your Father." See Matthew 23: 8, 9. 

Instead of so narrow and partial a view, is it not 
more than likely that the Infinite Source of in- 
dividual life has seen fit in many different ages of 
the world, in many different nations, and under 
many varying circumstances, to come to persons who 
are more spiritual and more sensitive than ordinary 
men, and make them the vehicle of some great 
moral, or religious, or spiritual truth? 

We said that the Infinite Source of being might 
see fit to do this. But is it likely that these truths 
are communicated directly, and without any finite 
instrumentality? We think it more probable that 
infinite being inspires these spiritual thoughts into 
sensitive human individuals, by and through individ- 
ual finite spirits who once dwelt in the flesh as w^e 
do, but are now out of the physical body. This 
seems more than likely from the following consid- 
erations. 

We see that infinite life in general produces its 
effects, not directly, but by the intervention of indi- 
rect means and instrumentalities. And these means 
and instruments, when organized, reach a higher 
development in the process of being thus employed. 



1 62 Why she became a Spiritualist. 

The testimon}' of spirits also is all in this direction. 
They tell us that they are requested by higher pow- 
ers to communicate spiritual truth to sensitive per- 
sons ; and they also tell us that their work in this di- 
rection serves to further their own development. 
Besides, it is more natural that a finite individuality 
receive special impressions about some special thing 
from another finite individuality who is more ad- 
A^anced, than that it should receive them from infin- 
ity. The mother gives impressions to the child, the 
teacher instructs the pupil, the more advanced feeds 
the soul of those a little lower; and these natural 
processes obtain in the communication of spiritual 
food in all the universe. We are not now speaking 
of such a priori ideas as that of infinite space, of in- 
finite time, and of an efficient cause. Those ideas, 
being innate, belong to the constitutional nature of 
soul existence, and do not need to be communicated, 
were it even possible to do so. We are speaking 
of those moral, religious, and spiritual truths that 
are definite, and form the basis of the rehgions. 
Infinite life works on and through all; but, all being 
"parts of one stupendous whole," the higher work 
on the lower, and the lower work on those who are 
lower than themselves. Thus all have their part to 
do, and they are enabled to do their part by the 
share of infinite life that pervades them. 

There is another reason for thinking that the dif- 
ferent religions of mankind came from individual 



Why she became a Spiritualist. 163 

spirits, and not directly from the Infinite Source. It 
is this. If an}^ one rehgion had come directly from 
Almight}^ God, it would have all truth embodied in 
it. Bigots will make such a claim, each one for his 
own system of belief. But is this true of any one 
religion? Does any one faith have all truth? We 
find on the contrary that different rehgions have 
different truths, and that all religions, even the low- 
est, have some truth. This fact makes it probable 
that each of them originated through the influence 
on some sensitive brain of some exalted spirit or 
spirits, who saw certain truths very clearly. Re- 
joicing themselves in the truths they saw, they were 
delighted to communicate them to their mediums. 
But they did not communicate all truth, because be- 
ing themselves finite, and therefore limited in view, 
they were not able to see all truth. 

Let us now consider a few of the great religions 
of the world, and show that some kind of spiritual 
manifestations forms the corner-stone of each. The 
originators or the upholders of these religions have 
been under the influence, or, to use a common ex- 
pression, under the "control" of some individual 
spirit or spirits; and so what is really spiritualism 
is the chief prop of each of them. We shall try to 
confine ourselves to those systems that have been 
adopted by the largest number of people, or those 
that were accepted by the most remarkable nations 
in history. 



164 Why she became a Spiritualist. 

Let us first consider the religion of ancient Greece. 

Thouofh this was one of the smallest nations in ter- 
es 

ritorial extent, yet Greece had, and continues to have 
to the present day, more influence on every form of 
literature, on art, on taste, and on philosophy, than 
any other nation that has ever existed. Though 
Rome triumphed over her materially and poHtically, 
the writers, the philosophers, and the artists of Rome 
never claimed to be more than imitators of the 
Greeks. Greek sculptors, Greek poets, and Greek 
orators were their models, and their highest aim was 
to resemble them. The authors of Greece lead in 
every department of writing. In philosophy, Plato 
and Socrates still lead, though Bacon has taught 
mankind to go far be3'ond the teachings of Aristotle, 
in studying the facts of physical nature, in order to 
apply its laws to the well-being of the human race. 
The Greeks had acute, active, and practical 
minds. Their religion so impregnated their thought, 
that their writings can not be wholly understood 
without a knowledge of their mythology. While 
we know that their great philosophers gave in 
esoteric circles a meaning to the mythic tales that 
they hid from the multitude, yet the Greeks in gen- 
eral believed their religion, and made its teachings 
a part of their daily life. The main object of the 
great tragedies of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and 
Euripedes was to teach the principles of their faith 
to the common people of Greece. Their reHgion 



Why she became a Spiritualist. 165 

was *not theoretical, as is much of the church doc- 
trine of the present day. They prayed to their 
deities, offered them gifts, and depended on them to 
take care of them when they should leave the earth 
and go to Hades. 

Now, on what did the Greeks rely as proofs that 
what their priests taught them was true? Every 
student of Greek history and literature knows that 
their faith rested directly on their oracles and their 
divinations. If their oracles were not to be depended 
on, then their religion had no proof Sophocles ex- 
presses this thought in one of the choral songs in 
Oedipus: "Never again will I adore the holy seat 
of Delphi, unless Phoebus' word be justified by clear 
fulfillment." Some shallow historians have spoken 
of the priests of Delphi as tricksters, and of the peo- 
ple who went to consult them as deluded ones. A 
wide reading of Greek literature by an unpreju- 
diced mind shows that this people did believe what 
was told them by the oracles of Delphi and Dodona. 
And is it conceivable that this bright, active, practi- 
cal people rested on a cheat? It was not only on 
religious matters that they consulted these shrines. 
They went to them on practical matters of daily life, 
of business, of politics. Generals went to Delphi 
before engaging in war. Even foreign kings came 
to this famous shrine, and offered magnificent gifts, 
in exchange for information regarding the result of 
their enterprises. Croesus of L3'dia sent three times 



1 66 Why she became a Spiritualist. 

to this oracle, and the prophesy given proved true 
in each case. 

Now, what gave this power of foretelling future 
events, to the shrine at Delphi? Its priestesses were 
spiritual mediums. They were sensitives; they 
went under spirit control. The spirits who influ- 
enced them, being out of the body, could see the 
action of existing causes better that those who came 
to consult, and so enabled these mediums to foretell 
future events. One can read in "The Hidden Wa}^ 
across the Threshold," by Dr. J. C. Street, a clear 
account of the mode of procedure at Delphi, when 
they wished to obtain a communication from the 
spirit-world. The priests were arranged in the 
form of a horse-shoe magnet, open towards the east 
and towards the shrine. A line connecting the ends 
of the magnet ran due north, and south. The high 
priest was stationed at the center of the semi-circle. 
At the norths or positive end of the magnet, was 
placed the most negative priest. At the south, or 
negative end, was placed the most positive priest. 
The other priests were ranged in gradation of me- 
diumistic power, from the ends, to where the high 
priest was placed. In front of the high priest the 
weakest priestess had her station. In front of her 
was placed a stronger one, and so on, the chief 
priestess being farthest front and nearest to the 
shrine. All these men and women were mediums. 
Woman having, on general principles, more per- 



Why she became a Spiritualist. 167 

fectly mediumistic qualities than man, we are not sur- 
prised that the best interpreters of the spirit world 
were priestesses. The horse-shoe magnet of priests 
harmonized the magnetic currents, and concentrated 
them on the chief priestess. These arrangements 
were in accordance with the instructions of most ad- 
vanced spirits at the present day, and we advise at- 
tention to the principles involved in these arrange- 
ments on the part of circles who assemble regularly 
in order to develop a special medium. We certainly 
advise the horse-shoe magnet, when that is their 
object, but there would be no objection to having 
men and women sit alternately. When the object is 
to develop one particular person, or to obtain man- 
ifestations through one medium, the persons pre- 
sent should certainly sit in a horse-shoe opening 
towards that individual. If a number of persons 
are together for the development of all, they should 
be arranged in a complete circle, with positive and 
negative persons alternating with each other. 

The priests at Delphi seem to have understood 
these natural laws of spirit influence better than 
those of other shrines. At any rate, they applied 
them more systematically, and the results were so 
fine that Delphi was the favorite oracle. 

The oracle of Trophonius was remarkable in that 
the person who sought counsel was his own medium. 
Having gone through certain rites, he descended by 
a ladder to the upper cave. The opening into the 



1 68 Why she became a Spiritualist. 

lower cave was very narrow. If courageous 
enough to go on, he lay dow^n and put his feet into 
the opening. A force, like the current of a rapid 
river, then carried him down into the lower cave. 
There, some became clairaudiant, and heard what 
they wished to know ; while others became clairvoy- 
ant, and saw a vision. Some who went through 
this experience never smiled again. This process 
at Trophonius, though discredited by the ignorant, 
will be understood by all who have had experience 
as mediums. 

The priests of these ancient oracles were evidently 
Spiritualists. They knew^ the law^s of spirit control 
and spirit communications. It is evident that the 
Greeks would not have relied on their oracles, if 
those oracles had not proved true. They might 
have depended on them a few times to begin with, 
but when they failed to give true answers, their 
faith in them would have w^aned, and at last have 
complete!}^ died aw^ay. But we find that the influ- 
ence of the oracle at Delphi continued for many 
hundred years. It w^as consulted in fact for more 
than a thousand 3'ears, and seemed at last to give 
place to the new Spiritualism taught by the Naza- 
rene. But while it lasted it was considered of the 
greatest value b}^ the Greeks. In fact, the Am- 
phictyonic Council had for its main object the pro- 
tection of the oracle at Delphi. 

Eg3'pt, too, had its oracles, the most famous one 



Why she became a Spiritualist. 169 

being located at the oasis of Ammon. The Greeks 
learned these great natural laws from the Egyptian 
priests, to whom this spiritualistic lore w^as handed 
down by the inhabitants of the sunk continent of 
Atlantis. 

Another great religion founded on Spiritualism is 
Mohammedanism. Its founder, Mohammed, became 
an individualized entity about S69 A. D., and made 
his transition to purely spiritual life in 632. What 
was Mohammed? Was he an impostor, as some 
materialistic historians would have us believe ? Com- 
ing to his death hour, his words were, "I come now 
to my companions on high." These sublime words 
harmonize with a conscientious life, conscious com- 
munion with spirits, and an assurance that he was 
about to join them. Such words in the supreme 
hour of transit befit a Confucius, a Socrates, a Lin- 
coln. They do not befit an impostor. His wife 
Cadijah, whom he married from friendship and 
gratitude, was the first to believe in his divine mis- 
sion. She who knew him best knew that he was 
sincere. Mohammed was a trance medium. His- 
torians ignorant of the laws of spirit control believe 
that he had epileptic fits. Students of the new bi- 
ology know that he went under spirit influence. 
After long solitary vigils, he shouted, foamed at the 
mouth, heard musical bells ringing, heard voices, 
and spoke what he heard. These words were 
written dow^n by his followers, and form the Koran. 



170 Why she became a Spiritualist. 

He taught good precepts to the Arabs among whom 
he dwelt. He found most of them idolaters, and he 
taught them to substitute the worship of one spirit 
God. He found them drunkards and gluttons. He 
bade them abstain wholly from wine, and to eat but 
little during forty days of each year. He taught 
them to purify their bodies by a daily bath, and to 
keep in relation to the spirit w^orld by praying to 
God five times a day. Familiar with Judaic and 
Christian teaching, he incorporated much of it in his 
precepts. But the founder of Christianity had been 
in spirit life six hundred years. His teachings had 
not penetrated Arabia to any extent, and Moham- 
med claimed that his own teachings superseded 
those of Jesus. The precepts of the Nazarene had 
been so distorted during those six hundred years, 
that we can hardly blame the spirit guides of Mo- 
hammed for claiming that their medium had 
brought a more perfect revelation to mankind. 

Mohammed was a grand man, in both private 
and public life. He was abstemious in all respects. 
He was faithful to his aged Cadijah as long as she 
lived. WheA> she left earth, he married a beautiful 
young woman. When this Ayesha, in the pride of 
youthful beauty, said to him, "Am I not better than 
Cadijah?" "By God, no," said Mohammed. "Nev- 
er did God give me a better. When I was pro- 
nounced a liar, she believed in me." 

The faith of Mohammed seems to be well adapt- 



Why she became a Spiritualist. 171 

ed to western Asia and to Africa. It is now 
spreading with great rapidity in the latter continent. 
It is estimated that there are ten converts to Mo- 
hammedanism in the newly opened regions, to one 
convert to Christianity. Christian bigots have little 
notion of the power and the adaptability of its ten- 
ets to men just emerging from barbarism. Its be- 
lief in one God, instead of three, and its precepts of 
cleanliness and abstinence produce better results 
than European rum and profligacy. 

Brahminism, which was introduced into India by 
the Aryans, had the Arj^anic mill-stone of a person- 
al god around its neck. Uniting with the creator 
Brahm the destructive Siva of the aboriginal race, 
and the much incarnated Vishnu of the Puranas, the 
relisfion of Hindostan became a monstrous cult which 
has never spread to any extent beyond that coun- 
try. The pure and simple Buddha revolted from 
the gross teachings of Brahminism, and formulated 
a system that is followed by about a third of the in- 
habitants of the earth. This man lived in the sev- 
enth century before Christ. Lofty spirits, pained 
by some of the features of Brahminism, found in 
Buddha a fit instrument through whom to give 
purer doctrines to the world. Brought up in lux- 
ury, he abandoned it for a life of austerity. Still 
unsatisfied and longing for more spirituality, hese- 
cluded himself for years, and at last became a per- 
fect medium for spirit forces. What did those pur- 



172 Why she became a Spiritualist. 

ified intelligences teach him? They taught him self- 
denial, purity, kindness to all beings, both men and 
the lower animals. They taught him that the con- 
dition of man in spirit life will depend solely on Kar- 
ma, that is, on the merit and demerit of his own ac- 
tions. Buddhism is a beautiful faith, and bears a 
somewhat similar relation to Brahminism, that 
Christianity does to Judaism. Like Jesus, Buddha 
was ideally benevolent. His precepts embody the 
best Christian virtues. In one respect, however, 
this great religion is inferior to Spiritualism. The 
final absorption of pure souls into the Deity is re- 
pugnant to the grander views of our destiny that 
the spirit world teaches us to-day. More advanced 
now than when they taught Buddha 2600 years 
ago, spirits give us the ecstatic knowledge that our 
existence, having once been individualized from the 
fountain of infinite life, wall maintain its individualitv 
forever. Fear not to live, timid soul. Never will 
you lose your memory of the past. Never will you 
lose your identity. On the contrar}^, 3'our individ- 
uality will develop, and the ecstacy of conscious be- 
ing will irradiate your immortal life. Buddha 
knows this now, and rejoices in the knowledge. 

The pure teachings of Buddha, expelled from 
Hindostan, spread rapidly to the east. It took dif- 
ferent forms in different countries. In Thibet, it be- 
came Lamaism, a cult that has some spiritualistic 
features. In China, Buddhism holds its own bv the 



Why she became a Spiritualist. 173 

side of the other two religions adopted by 400,000,- 
000 Chinese. These two religions are that taught 
by Confucius, himself a Spiritualist; and Taoism, the 
religion of reason, and one that embodies some of the 
features of Spiritualism. Confucius taught his fol- 
lowers to do right, because their arisen ancestors 
were with them, and saw all that they did. 

Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism stand side 
by side in China. The men of China have a large- 
ness of view that should put Christian nations to 
shame. When strangers meet in China and the 
conversation turns to religion, they inquire of each 
other, "Which of the sublime religions is yours?" 
Instead of trying to proselyte each other, it is good 
form for each to praise the religion of the others as 
better than his own. These compliments ended, 
they all join hands, and unite in repeating the form- 
ula, "Religions are many, reason is one, we are all 
brothers." * 

The general population of China is not to be 
judged by those coast-dwellers who seek their 
fortune on foreign shores. The Chinese are a 
practical people, and their morals are good. Licen- 
tious novels having been introduced by "Christian" 
nations, nearly half a century ago, sixty- five book- 
sellers in Soo Chow went together to the city tem- 
ple and made a vow not to engage in the sale of 

* See "Chinese Empire," in Chambers' Encyclopedia. 



174 Why she became a Spiritualist. 

these books. Can this act be paralleled in any 
Christian city? In the name of all good spirits, do 
not let us carry fire-water, and opium, and licen- 
tious novels to vast peoples who do not have them. 

The religion of the American aborigines is a 
Spiritualism suited to their stage of advancement. 
Their medicine-men were mediums. They wor- 
shipped, not idols, but the Great Spirit. On leav- 
ing the body, they passed to the happy hunting- 
grounds of the Spirit-land. No white usurper can 
drive them thence! 

We have spoken elsewhere of the fact that all the 
great writers of the Bible were inspirational mediums, 
and that Jesus himself was the most remarkable 
medium between the earth and the spirit world on 
record. Moses was obeyed because of the spirit 
power manifested through him. The Judges of 
Israel ruled in the same way. The prophets were 
heeded because decarnated spirits spoke through 
them. Christianity was directly based on "spiritual 
manifestations" made by the Nazarene and his fol- 
lowers. This power continued among the believers 
for hundreds of 3^ears. When it ceased, the church 
became corrupt and formal. 

Now what shall we say of those who fight Spirit- 
ualism with weapons drav/n from the Old Testament ? 
Is the Old Testament true? The only proof that 
any of it is true is the Spiritualism in it. Moses for- 
bade all wizards but himself. He preferred to be 



Why she became a Spiritualist. 175 

the only one. He did not want a "mixture of influ- 
ences." 

As to the remarkable power manifested by the 
pure Nazarene, let all mediums study the four gos- 
pels, and see what kind of a medium Jesus was. 
Let them try to do just as he did, and be just what 
he was, and then they will become endowed with 
the same loving and glorious power. 



So low is grandeur to our dust, 

So close is God to man, 
When Duty whispers low, "Thou must, 

All can reply, 'I can.' " 



176 



Why she became a Spiritualist. 



THE PETRIFIED FERN. 



In a valley, centuries ago, 

Grew a little fern-leaf, green and slender, 
Veining delicate, and fibres tender, 
Waving when the wind crept down so low. 
Rushes tall, and moss, and grass grew round it. 
Playful sunbeams darted in and found it, 
Drops of dew stole in by night, and crowned it; 
But no feet of man e'er trod that way, — 
Earth was young and keeping holiday. 



Monster fishes swam the silent main, 

Stately forests waved their giant branches, 
Mountains hurled their snowy avalanches, 

Mammoth creatures stalked across the plain; 

Nature reveled in grand mysteries, — 

But the little fern was none of these, 

Did not number with the hills and trees; 

Only grew and waved" its wild, sweet way; 

No one came to note it day by day. 



Earth, one time, put on a frolic mood. 
Heaved the rocks and changed the mighty motion 
Of the deep, strong currents of the ocean. 

Moved the plain, and shook the haughty wood, 

Crushed the little fern in soft, moist clay, — 

Covered it and hid it safe away. 

O the changes! O life! bitter cost 

Since that useless little fern was lost! ' 



Useless? Lost? There came a thoughtful man 
SearcTling nature's secrets, far and deep; 
From a fissure in a rocky steep 

He withdrew a stone, o'er which there ran 

Fairy pencilings, a quaint design, 

Veinings, leafage, fibres clear and fine, 

And the fern's life lay in everj' line! 

So, I think, God hides some souls away, 

Sweetly to surprise us in Heaven's day." 

—Mary I^. Bolles Branch, 



LECTURE IX. 

HOW TO INVESTIGATE SPIRITUALISM. 

There are many subjects for human beings to in- 
vestigate, and they are led to these various subjects 
by many different motives. Curiosity is a powerful 
spur in pushing one's inquiries. 

For many hundred 3^ears men have felt a deep 
curiosity regarding the sources of the Nile, and the 
interior of Africa. To penetrate the secrets of the 
Dark Continent, many explorers have spent their 
money, wasted their health, and used unremitting 
toil and diligence. An anxious wish to solve the 
unknown has driven men to leave the temperate re- 
gions and plunge into the dreary realms of eternal 
ice. They wanted to find out whether there were 
land or water at the North Pole. They wanted to 
know if one could sail from Behring's Straits to the 
coast of Greenland. Sir John Franklin and many 
another man has left his bones to whiten under an 
Arctic sky. So eager were they to prove that nav- 
igable water borders the northern coast of Asia 
and America that they were willing to lay down 
their lives rather than give up the quest. 

And 3'^et, was it curiosity alone that led these gal- 



178 Why she became a Spiritualist. 

lant bands? Other motives had their share. Am- 
bition to accomphsh what no other man had done 
spm-red them on. 

What were the first words of Greeley to the res- 
cuers that found him dying of hunger, cold and 
pain? "Greeley, is this you?" "Yes: did what I 
came to do — beat the best record," said he, and fell 
back exhausted. To get one mile nearer to the 
Pole than any one else was a triumph that paid him 
for many an agon}- . 

A desire to add to the fund of scientific truth 
has also led on many an investigator. Once it was 
thought that the laws of science had to do only with 
our life while in the body. In accordance with this 
view, religious souls thought it almost wrong to de- 
vote any part of life's short span to scientific pur- 
suits. They thought it better to devote one's self 
to Biblical and theological study. But the world is 
beginning to understand that scientific laws govern 
the spirit life as well as the present, and that all the 
knowledge we can obtain here will be useful to us 
in the vaster sphere which will soon be our home. 
The laws of" what we call Nature prevail in all the 
universe, and the study of them acquires a dignity 
and a value that they did not possess before Spirit- 
ualism broadened the scope of human thought. 

But there is a yet higher motive to the investiga- 
tion of the unknown than curiosity, ambition, or the 
love of scientific truth. A desire to reHeve suffering 



Why she became a Spiritualist. 179 

humanity, and thus hnk our being in the golden 
chain of love that binds all spirits together, is a yet 
higher motive. It was all these motives combined, 
especially that of lessening the sum of human misery, 
that led David Livingstone through the pathless 
deserts of Africa. To put an end to the horrible 
traffic in slaves, carried on by the Portuguese traders, 
was his eager desire. Traveling through the Afri- 
can wilds, he often met bands of captives that were 
being forced to go to the coast. Torn from their 
home and loved ones, suffering acute pangs of hope- 
less home-sickness, they were also treated with 
great ph3^sical brutaHty by those who expected to 
make money by selling them when they should 
reach the ocean. They we're forced to walk the 
hundreds of miles 3^oked in the following way, as 
described by Livingstone. A trunk of a tree, with 
two forked branches, w^as prepared for each male 
captive. His neck w^as put in the fork and riveted 
there by a staple. Two such logs, to each of which 
a slave was fastened, w^ere then tied securely to- 
gether. The tw^o could not get apart, and the 
weight of the logs made the captives secure. Those 
who could sustain the journey brought a good price 
at the coast. Those who sunk were not released 
by these inhuman traders, and perished miserably 
in the wilds. Livingstone's heart was wrung by 
sometimes coming to the dead bodies of captives 
still harnessed to the cruel yoke. He relates that 



i8o Why she became a Spiritualist. 

often when he met these forlorn bands, their wild 
singing had a note of triumph in it. Knowing some- 
what of their language, he knew the meaning of the 
chant. The poor creatures were singing how when 
their souls should be freed from the body, they 
would come back and haunt their cruel oppressors, 
and thus repay their tyranny. Livingstone could 
take no rest while this "open sore," as he called it, 
remained. He loved those poor blacks, and did all 
he could to help them. This motive, to relieve 
human pain, so brightly displa3^ed in the career of 
Livingstone and of Jesus, is the highest motive of 
any we have named. It is angelic. Our arisen an- 
gels, once subject to the pains we feel, stoop from 
their happy homes to help us. Do we wish to be 
like them? Then let us help all whom we meet in 
every possible way. Thus will the spiritual part of 
us grow and expand. Thus shall we aid the grand 
object of all good spirits — the progression of each 
and all. The love of science is good. But when 
science becomes the hand-maid of benevolence, she 
is helping the angel world in their great mission. 

These four motives of curiosity, ambition, love of 
science, and desire to help olher beings, are active 
in many of the investigations we make. In investi- 
gating Spiritualism, we find that men are spurred by 
the same, but let us remember that the desire to re- 
lieve the pain and to increase the happiness of other 
beings is the most angelic one. 



Why she became a Spiritualist. i8i 

Now, are mam^ persons investigating Spiritualism? 
We do not wish to exaggerate, but we believe that 
the majority of persons we meet in daily life are in- 
vestigating this subject. And of the minority who 
are not investigating it, a large portion desire to look 
into it, but are temporarily deterred from doing so. 
And, can there be anything more natural than this 
desire? What human being does not feel an inter- 
est in the coming years of this life? Whether he 
will be well, whether he w^ill be happy, interests him 
greatly. And, if there be any possible way for him 
to know whether he will live after his body dies, and 
w^hether his dear ones who have already "died" are 
still alive, and love him still, then he cannot help 
taking a deep interest in the subject. The world 
has been told by the clerg}^ for many hundred years 
that there was no possible way for us to know any- 
thing about the condition of the "dead," and that it 
w^as even wicked to think much about it. And now 
we meet persons every day who claim to have had 
communications from the "dead," who claim to have 
proof that their dear ones are alive, and love them 
still. How is it possible for persons to help taking 
an interest in this matter? How is it possible to 
keep them from investigating it? Men eagerly in- 
vestigate all matters pertaining to the present life. 
And they will investigate this subject, the most in- 
teresting, and also the most important, that can pos- 
sibly engage the attention of an}- human being. If 



i82 Why she became a Sph^itualist. 

the husband, whose dear one has been torn from his 
life, can learn for a surety that she is alive and 
happy and loves him still, he will try to find it out. 
The mother who has lost her idol will do the same. 
All whose mothers are in spirit land will ask, ''Is 
mother near me? Can she come to me and care 
for me with a mother's undying love?" If we can 
know these things, we certainly zvill know them, 
and the clergy cannot frighten us out of it. They 
have told us that we can selfishly enjoy heaven, 
w^hile those we love are in misery in hell. They 
have tried to crush the family feeling, and the love 
that binds friend to friend. The world is learning 
that the family tie will continue, that love does last 
beyond the grave. Spiritualism can turn these 
hopes into glorious realities. We must and zve zvill 
investigate Spiritualism . 

Well, as most persons will certainly investigate 
Spiritualism who have an opportunit}^ of doing so, 
let us seek to know the best methods of carrying on 
these inquiries. We should surely use our reason 
in this most important quest. 

Suppose a naan wishes to look into the subject of 
electricit}'. Does he begin to practice experiments, 
and use the electric forces, before he has learned 
anything about their laws? Would it not be danger- 
ous to do so? Would he not run the risk of sepa- 
rating his spirit from his physical body? And if 
care and study are requisite in investigating electric 



Why she became a Spiritualist. 183 

and magnetic forces, when they concern only mate- 
rial objects, how much more study and care are 
befitting, when these forces are used by disembodied 
spirits in order to communicate their thoughts to us 
in the flesh! Only careful study wall teach us to 
apply conditions that will make such communica- 
tions possible and beneficial. A man who wishes 
to make use of electricity knows that he must begin 
at the first principles of the science, and master 
them thoroughly. Then having learned the A, B, 
and C, he can go on step by step and w^ork to ad- 
vantage. What do we think of a man who sits 
do\vn to a telegraphic machine, knowing nothing of 
its w^orking, with a message that he expects to send 
to Boston, and to which he wishes an immediate 
reply? He does not understand the laws of elec- 
tricity, nor their application to the machine before 
him. He makes no connections. He sits there, 
expecting his message to go to Boston, and to re- 
ceive an answer to it. Getting no response, he be- 
gins to feel somewhat annoyed. "Well," says he, 
"I w^ill give this machine one good trial. If I don't 
get an answer from Boston, then I shall know that 
telegraphy is a fraud." He waits awhile in impa- 
tience. No message comes. He leaves the instru- 
ment in disgust; and for weeks he tells telegraphic 
operators of his acquaintance that he has investigat- 
ed the machine, that he has positive proofs that it is 
a fraud, and that people are fools to think that they 



184 Why she became a Spiritualist. 

can get a message from Boston by any such means. 
The men who know the laws of electricity hint that 
perhaps he did not make the connections right, and 
that there was some scientific cause for the failure. 
But he insists that this talk of "connections" and 
"conditions" is designed to cover the incapacity of 
the instrument, the fraud of its operators, and the 
deluded state of those whom they fool. "I have 
investigated it," he insists, "and the thing is a hum- 
bug." What do we think of such a man? And 
yet, have we not known persons who have attended 
a few seances, who applied none of the proper con- 
ditions of investigation, and who then declare that 
they have looked into Spirituahsm, and have found 
out that it is a gigantic fraud? 

Some, still more foolish, decide the value of its 
claims without looking into it at all. On no grounds 
whatever, they sa}^ that Spiritualism is false. Is the 
reason, is the power of judging from facts, to be 
misused in this way? The same want of method in 
mental processes would make a man say that the 
Congo river does not have a horse-shoe bend in it, 
because he h^id not seen it; and that Stanley is a 
humbug, because he did not accompany him in his 
wonderful journey through "Darkest Africa." Ba- 
con told us to examine facts, and find out laws and 
principles from those facts. His method has accom- 
plished wonders in two hundred and fifty 3^ears in 
earth investigations. Many in this age are wise 



Why she became a Spiritualist. 185 

enough to apply his method to psychical and spirit- 
ual investigations, and the progress made is very 
gratifying to those who are prepared to accept the 
truth in these new fields of inquir}^ 

What are the conditions of a right investigation 
of Spiritualism? Let us first consider the mental 
attitude of those who investigate. Our illustration 
of the man who could get nothing by the tele- 
graphic machine may help us here. Why did he 
not succeed.'^ He did not try to understand the 
laws on which its action is based, he was dictatorial, 
and he was impatient. What qualities befit the 
successful seeker into an}^ realm of science and 
thought? There should be close and pei:sistent 
study, a docile and unprejudiced frame of mind, a 
desire to know the truth, the whole truth, and 
nothing but the truth, and, leavening the whole, a 
patient spirit. These qualities imbue a Morse, a 
Newton, an Edison, and also the most successful 
investigators into the means of communicating with 
the spirit world. A few efforts are not enough. 
Many, many efforts must be made. 

"If at first j'ovi don't succeed, 
Try, try again." 

The seeker should look to his motives, and strive 
to be guided by the highest. If he is investigating 
just in the hope of developing a power that will en- 
able him to give psychometric readings, or stances, 
at one dollar a head, his motive is a selfish one, and 



1 86 Why she became a Spiritualist. 

he will draw selfish spirits to his aid. If he develop 
the power desired, this class of spirits may help him 
to make money, and he may succeed for a time, in 
a business way; but he thus excludes a higher grade 
of spirits, and will enter the spirit world as crippled 
as though he had not called himself a Spiritualist. 
If his motive be to astonish and dazzle the world by 
the display of remarkable gifts, he will draw to him 
those who manifest selfishness by their ambition. 
Spirits who desire to spiritualize mankind will seek 
another medium of communication. 

The bodily condition of the investigators, es- 
pecially those conditions that depend on their own 
habits of life, should be considered. All who drink 
alcohol, all who are steeped in tobacco, those who 
are intemperate in eating, and all who are licentious 
in act or in thought should be rigorously excluded 
from the circle of honest investigators. There is 
danger in sitting with an}^ such. The reason is 
psychologic. Spirits who were addicted to such 
vices when on earth and have not yet progressed out 
of those conditions are naturally drawn to those 
who practise the indulgences they formerty enjoyed. 
They creep within the magnetic sphere of such, 
solace themselves in the old sensual delights, and 
become a detriment to the pure seekers. These 
spirits will stimulate the sensual human beings, so 
their investigations into Spiritualism will not help 
them. "First pure," said the brother of the Naza- 



Why she became a Spiritualist. 187 

rene. See James 3:17. The old proverb, "Like 
attracts like," is true of all spirit relations, and is 
never more applicable than in all our attempts to 
communicate with the spirit world. To draw the 
seraphic, rather than the undeveloped spirits, the 
seeker must be filled with the divine wisdom that is 
"pure, peaceable, gentle and easy to be entreated, 
full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and 
without hypocrisy." Divine wisdom, as above de- 
lineated, will unlock the door into the higher spirit- 
ual realms. Indissolubly wedded to this wisdom is 
divine love, which links all souls together, be they 
high or low. 

A sound physical condition in those who sit is an 
advantage. Health facilitates the smooth flow of a 
magnetism that is in harmony with the terrestrial 
currents, and those currents are the vehicle used by 
our spirit friends in giving us their thoughts. Hence, 
it has been said that no person suffering from a 
chronic disease should be allowed to sit in a "circle." 
But, dear friends, let us not forget the divine, un- 
selfish love just alluded to. If a circle of pure per- 
sons, in good physical condition, do sometimes ad- 
mit a diseased one, they could no doubt greatly ben- 
efit such a one. And the unselfish love thus mani- 
fested would aid them spiritually to a degree that 
would more than compensate for the slight and tem- 
porary lessening of their own vital strength. 

What has been said of the mental attitude, the 



iS8 Why she became a Spiritualist. 

motives, the purity, and the physical condition of 
the investigators, applies of course with yet greater 
weight to those who have already become what we 
call "mediums." If mediums possessing these de- 
sirable qualities be not at hand, it is better to sit 
without one. Persistent and regular sittings 
may in time develop a good medium in the circle. 
And if a person be so situated that he or she can 
find no suitable persons with whom to sit, we think 
it would be far better for him to sit alone. True, 
that person may never in earth life develop into a 
strong medium. But the very effort will advance 
him spiritually. We advise one so situated to try to 
take a half hour two or three times a week, on reg- 
ular days and hours, if possible. Let him sit quietly, 
in a restful position, freeing his mind as far as may 
be from his w^orldly cares. Let him lift his soul to 
the great Source of life, and to the loving dear ones 
who have left the body. Let him invoke their aid, 
and invite their spiritual presence. Such aspiration- 
al hours will prepare him to profit by more favora- 
ble circumstances that may yet be developed in his 
outer life. Ahd even if the hoped-for opportunities 
never come to him in his earth life, these aspi- 
rations for a purer, more spiritual life will prepare 
him for that glad hour when the dear friends be3^ond 
will welcome his spirit as it leaves the poor, toil- 
worn body, and show him the shining way to the 
everlasting spirit-home. 



Why she became a Spiritualist. 189 

In connection with the general subject of this lec- 
ture, let us now consider briefly some of the quali- 
ties that specially befit those who desire to be good 
mediums between mortals and those who are already 
in the spirit life. A medium, literally, is something 
between tw^o spaces, or two states, through which 
action, motion, or thought is transmitted. Its per- 
fection will depend of course on the transmission's 
being effected with as little change as possible in 
whatever is conveyed. For instance, the glass in a 
window is the medium through which we see the 
world outside of the house. If the glass be per- 
fectly transparent, we see the outside objects just as 
they are. If the glass be flawed, we see the objects 
distorted from their true form; if the glass be muddy, 
we see them indistinctly; if the glass be colored, we 
see them in that color. A good medium, spiritualist- 
ically speaking, then, is a person through whom the 
thoughts, the words, and the sights of the spirit 
world can be conveyed with but little change by the 
transition. And through a perfect medium, were 
such a one possible, the impressions of the spirit 
world would be conveyed to mortals exactly as they 
are. Transparency, then, is the most desirable 
quality in a spiritual medium. This transparency 
comes about in two w^ays. The medium may be 
very simple and very negative by nature. He has 
no positive qualities that color and distort by his own 
opinions and prejudices what the spirit world attempt 



ipo Why she became a Spiritualist. 

to convey through his instrumentality. Or, he may 
be a person so constituted and so trained that he 
can, when he chooses, so efface his own will and in- 
dividuality as to allow the impression to pass through 
him without being altered. In addition to this men- 
tal quality, he must have that physical constitution 
of body that will enable spirits to use his organism 
in one or more of the phases of mediumship. 
Whether he possess those qualities can be known 
only by experiment, or by the statement of some 
experienced spirit specially skilled in the wonderful 
science of communicating with us in the body. 

Some investigators fall into the error of thinking 
that any or all of their spirit friends can come to 
them through any good medium. The truth is that 
all spirits, in the body or out of the body, have their 
own magnetic aura, and these varying aura cannot 
assimilate with all. All spirits cannot come through 
all mediums, though probably all spirits can com- 
municate through some medium somewhere. Cer- 
tain of your spirit friends, for instance, come through 
a medium. You call him or her a good medium, 
and you tell a friend about it. He goes to the same 
person, gets nothing, and thinks he must be a fraud. 
Let us go to different mediums, whom we believe to 
be honest, and we shall in time receive communica- 
tions from some spirit that will satisfy us. 

Many who embrace Spiritualism and are made 
happy in knowing that the dead are alive and can 



Why she became a Spiritualist. 191 

still communicate with us, make the mistake of 
thinking that any of their friends can come at any 
time, through any medium. After a while they are 
disappointed to find that this is not so. Their dis- 
appointment sometimes reacts on their interest, and 
they begin to fear that it is all a mistake. But pa- 
tient, persistent, and thoughtful efforts will lead us 
in time into a clearer view of the relation of things. 
While in the bod\^, our main care should be to 
try to unfold the soul. On leaving the body, that is 
still our main care; and the more advanced a spirit 
becomes, the more clearly does he see this great 
duty, and the more earnestly does he work in order 
to aid that unfoldment. The occupations of life in 
the spirit world are many, and adapted to the tastes, 
the nature, and the degree of unfoldment of those 
who dwell there. A portion of them are specially 
engaged in improving and practising the ways of 
communicating with those yet in the body. They 
are particularly adapted to this w^ork. But many 
of our spirit friends are engaged in occupations 
quite different from this. When they wish to ex- 
change thoughts with the dear ones left behind, the)" 
go to one of these specialists in the art of communi- 
cating with mortals, somewhat as we go to a tele- 
graph operator, or as we ask an adept in finger 
language to talk for us with a deaf and dumb man. 
A clear apprehension and acceptance of this fact will 
save those who enter these paths from man}^ a dis- 



192 Why she became a Spiritualist. 

appointment. Let us apply this view to some of the 
common phases of mediumship. 

You sit down to a table with a rapping medium. 
His controls have learned by long practice to man- 
ipulate his magnetism, so that they can produce tips 
or raps by it at the precise instant they desire. 
Your spirit friend is close by, and signifies to the 
spirit adept what answers he wishes to be given to 
your questions. You remain passive, and your own 
magnetism may assist in assimilating the magnetism 
of the two spirits, and thus aid the result. If you 
persevere in sitting at the table, you may in time 
develop your own powers in this direction, and 3^ou 
may find a spirit friend who will become skilled in 
using your magnetism in this way. Your own 
dearest spirit friend may become an adept in this 
method of communications, and may make you 
happy by doing so, until the laws of spiritual unfold- 
ment require him to cease this work in order to go 
up higher. 

Suppose you go to an independent slate-writing 
medium. His "control" has learned to so use cer- 
tain elements of his organism that he can produce 
writing on the slate, provided that his medium be 
in connection with the slate. This spirit adept does 
the writing in nearly every case. Our friend in 
spirit is near by, and tells him what to write. The 
searcher who expects to get the hand-zvriting of his 
spirit friend expects what cannot be obtained, unless 



Why she became a Spiritualist. 193 

that spirit friend be both an adept in this means of 
communicating, and can also manipulate the organ- 
ism of this special medium. 

Take the wonderful art of spirit photography. 
Not all spirits have learned how to express their 
form in that special way that can impress the plate 
in the camera. When we go to have our "spirit 
picture" taken, it is most unlikely that the one 
whose picture we most desire is an adept in this 
line, and can present his picture on our plate. For 
this reason, many are disappointed in their experi- 
ment. "Do you recognize any of the faces on your 
picture? "No," is the doleful answer in almost 
every case. And yet there are true spirit pictures 
with your own. If possible, the spirit control has 
a presentation made of some who have been con- 
nected with you at some period of life. If that be 
not possible, good spirits who know how to be 
taken present themselves, and it is a true spirit 
picture, though you be not able to recognize them. 

But the most disappointing of all the phases, that 
is, at its present stage of development, is that of 
materialization. As materialization becomes better 
understood, and is lifted out of the unreasonable in- 
to the possible, it will become a yet grander proof 
to skeptics of the truth of Spiritualism than it has 
been in the past. The great error is that of think- 
ing that all spirits have learned how to materialize 
so as to be recognized. The truth of the case is 



94 



Why she became a Spiritualist. 



that but few spirits are adepts in this wonderful art. 
The spirit controls of a materializing medium, un- 
derstanding the scientific laws pertaining to this 
form of manifestation, have experimented with his 
organism, he being in a trance, until they have 
learned how to draw from him and from those pres- 
ent the elements which they make into a material- 
ized form. This form is artificial, and is tempora- 
rily made up by the spirit adepts. These cabinet 
controls enter this form, or they aid other spirits to 
enter it. Our spirit friend has a task whose subtle 
difficulty w^e are not in condition to fully appreciate. 
One spirit friend, when questioned as to past facts, 
said, "I cannot tell. You know I am not all Alice" 
(giving her own name). That spirit must tempor- 
arily inhabit that form, hold it together with the 
assistance of the cabinet controls, remember how 
his body used to look and make this form look as 
he used to look in earth life. And, as if all this 
were not enough to do at one time, his earth friend 
draws from his powder by a suspicious attitude of 
mind. He regards him as an impostor, and de- 
mands dates, and names, and facts, that may "test" 
that he is not a humbug. So difficult is this task 
that it is probable that the forms at a materializing 
seance are often manipulated by one of the cabinet 
controls. Our spirit friend is close by, tells the con- 
trol how he used to look and what he must say, and 



WlIV SHE BECAME A SPIRITUALIST. I95 

the control represents the loving, anxious spirit 
friend as well as he can. 

When materialization assumes its proper place, 
people will understand that the actual presentation 
of their own friends does not always occur; and that 
the formation and dematerialization in a good light 
of any spirit whatever who can move and talk will 
he one of the best methods of demonstrating spirit 
existence to a materialist. Such a demonstration 
was made to me, as described in the Fourth Lec- 
ture. I have attended over sixty materializing 
seances, with five different mediums, thirty-five of 
them being with the medium through whom the 
aforesaid "George" demonstrated his spiritual exist- 
ence. And yet, in all those sixty seances, I did not 
see many manifestations that could y^r<:^ conviction 
on a skeptic. The reasons are not far to seek. 
Those who frequent seances expect too much, in 
that they all expect to have their own spirit friends. 
The manager keeps the room very dark, because 
light uses up the materializing power so rapidly that 
a form cannot be produced for each person in a 
large company, if it be ver}^ light. Each person 
pays a dollar; and, the more persons present, the 
greater the pecuniar}^ proceeds. We are not now 
speaking of those mediums who eke out genuine 
materializing power by the aid of soft white blankets, 
wigs, veils, and other paraphernaHa. We are speak- 
ing of the natural results, with ordinary good 



196 Why she became a Spiritualist. 

mediums, of the mistaken notions of sitters and of the 
desire to make money-making subordinate to the 
advancement of Spiritualism. 

Well, what in general should be our main objects 
in investigating Spiritualism ? A desire to commu- 
nicate with dear ones in spirit life is natural and 
right. But that should not be our final aim. A 
still higher object is the development of our own 
spirituality, so that w^e may be better fitted for the 
next life. And when to these w^e add the desire to 
reduce human suffering, by bringing news of loved 
departed ones to the mourner, and by removing the 
fear of death, we are then working in complete har- 
mony with higher spirits, for we are then working 
for human progress. Helping others in love will 
make us live in heaven while here in the body, and 
we thus become links in the glorious chain of love 
that binds all finite souls together. And this love, 
ever increasing, ever progressing, will forever raise 
all finite souls to the infinite Source of all love and 
light and life. 



Why she became a Spiritualist. 197 



IN MEMORIAM. 



The following letter is by the poet Tennyson, and is dated Farringford, 
Freshwater, Isle of Wight, May 7, 1874. It was written to a gentleman who 
communicated to him certain strange experiences he had had when pass- 
ing from under the effect of anesthetics. Tennyson writes: 

"I have never had any revelations through anesthetics, but a kind of 
waking trance (this for lack of a better name) I have frequently had, quite 
up from boyhood, when I had been all alone. This has often come upon 
me through repeating my own name to myself silently until all at once, as 
it were, out of the intensity of the consciousness of individuality the indi- 
viduality itself seemed to dissolve and fade away into boundless being, and 
this not a confused state, but the clearest of the clearest, the surest of the 
surest, utterly beyond words, where death was an almost laughable impos- 
sibility, the loss 'of personality (if so it were,) seeming no extinction, but 
the only true life." 

This is the most emphatic declaration that the spirit of the writer is 
capable of transferring itself into another existence that is not only real, 
clear, siinple, but that it. is also infinite in vision and eternal in duration. 

It is pointed out by Prof. Thomas Davidson, who has seen the letter, 
that the same conviction, if not the same experience, only with another, 
is described in "In Memoriam." — From the Chicago Tribune. 



By night we linger'd on the lawn. 
For under foot the herb was dry; 
And genial warmth; and o'er the sky 

The silvery haze of summer drawn; 



While now we sang old songs that peal'd 
From knoll to knoll, where, couch'd at ease, 
The white kine glimmer'd, and the trees 

Laid their dark arms about the field. 



" But when the others, one by one, 

Withdrew themselves from me and night, 
And in the house light after light 
Went out, and I was all alone, 



198 Why she became a Spiritualist. 



A hunger seized my heart; I read 

Of that glad year that once had been, 

In those fall'n leaves which kept their green, 

The noble letters of the dead: 



And strangely on the silence broke 

The silent-speaking words, and strange 
Was love's dumb cry defying change 

To test his worth ; and strangely spoke 



" The faith, the vigor, bold to dwell 

On doubts that drive the coward back, 
And keen thro' wordy snares to track 
Suggestion to her inmost cell. 



" So word by word, and line by line. 

The dead man touch'd me from the past, 
And all at once it seem'd at last 
His living soul was flashed on miyie^ 



And mine in his was wound, and whirl'd 
About empyreal heights of thought, 
And came on that which is, and caught 

The deep pulsations of the world, 



' .Ionian music measuring out 

The steps of Time, the shocks of Chance, 

The blows of Death. At length my trance 

Was cancell'd, stricken through with doubt. 



Vague words! but ah, how hard to frame 
In matter-moulded forms of speech. 
Or ev'n for intellect to reach 

Thro' memory that which I became. 



Till now the doubtful dusk reveal'd 
The knoll once more where, couched at ease, 
The white kine glimmer'd, and the trees 

I^aid their dark arms about the field." 



LECTURE X. 



WHAT IS DEATH r 



Is death real, or is it imaginary? Spiritualists are 
said to claim that there is no such thing as death, 
and we often quote with delight Longfellow's beau- 
tiful lines : 

"There is no death; what seems so is transition." 

Still, there is such a thing as death. But a Spir- 
itualist differs from some other persons in apply- 
ing the term death very closely to only one part of 
the triple nature of a human being while on the 
earth-plane. To a materialist, whether confessedly 
or only unconsciously one, death is indeed death, for 
he thinks it means the total and final extinction of a 
human being, when the earth body falls into dust. 
Such must be the belief of an actual materialist. 
But this doctrine is so repugnant to our nature that 
those who do not really know of a Hfe beyond the 
death of the material body, either by revelation or 
by Spiritualism, prefer to call themselves Agnostics. 
Like the friends of Socrates, to whom no spirit was 
able to manifest itself as his attendant spirit did to 

him, they think there is some reason to believe that 

199 



200 Why she beCx\me a Spiritualist. 

the spirit may survive the death of the bod3\ They 
hope it may be so, but they do not actually know. 
One part of his nature being not yet completely de- 
veloped, Robert Ingersoll, so clear-headed, so noble- 
hearted, so patriotic, is at present an agnostic as to 
a future life. But in his case, it will take but a 
short experience in spirit life to bring him into the 
clear light of knowledge. That inexpressibly sad 
and doubtful woman, George Eliot, who said, "Let 
us be ver}^ kind to one another, for to-morrow we 
die," sank into the depths of agnosticism. The 
philosphical and conscientious John Stewart Mill 
could not, while here, feel sure of the continuity of 
life. In his agnosticism, we see the natural rebound 
of a sensitive and ideal nature, which had been 
cramped in its development by the narrow^ processes 
to which it had been subjected by a bigoted father. 
Because the elder Mill was narrow and fanatical, 
though earnest and sincere, he tried to bind his son's 
soul by the same shackles. But the psyche could 
not be held in chains, and the rebound that came in 
middle life made John Stuart Mill an agnostic. Had 
he known soitiething definite of the spiritual philos- 
oph}', had its sweet light dawned on him, he might 
have been a Spiritualist. Many of his thoughts and 
opinions trend that way. His essay on "Liberty" 
shows that he was prepared to do justice to the 
spiritualistic conception of individualit}'. And his 
essay against the "Subjection of Woman" shows 



Why she became a Spiritualist. 201 

that his lo<^ic did not blind him to the value of intu- 
ition. But the great sad heart of Mill broke when 
his idolized wife left him. Let us quote some of 
the words he placed on her tombstone at Avignon. 
After summing up her noble traits of character, he 
says, "Were there more like her, this earth would 
already become the hoped-for heaven." He hoped 
there was a heaven for his Harriet in spirit land, 
but — he did not knozv. But a little while, and they 
laid his worn-out body beside hers, and the great 
agnostic entered on the knowledge of what he had 
longed for. Let us thank Infinite Love that Mill 
and his wife, and brave Georire Eliot now know the 
ecstasy of continued being, wholly freed from the 
uncertainty that perplexed them while in the body. 

Well, what is death? And, in what way, and 
with what limitations may the term ever be applied 
to the experiences of a human being? In other 
w'ords, is there any part of us, in our present condi- 
tion, that is subject to death? To answer this ques- 
tion, we will first consider what death is, and after 
that we will note the constitution of a human being 
while he is still on the earth plane. 

Death is the total and the permanent cessation of 
all the vital functions in an animal or a vegetable 
bod3% Why do these functions cease? They cease 
because the life, whatever that may be, has gone 
out of this organic body. Of course as thinking 
Spiritualists we claim that generic or universal life 



202 Why she becaivie a Spiritualist. 

is everywhere, and that nothing would be at all, 
were it not for this pervasive life. So, when w^e 
say that an animal or vegetable body is dead be- 
cause the life has gone out of it, we mean of course 
that the special, individualized, organized portion of 
the universal life, which Aatalized that special body 
so that it could perform its own individual functions, 
as an animal or a vegetable, has gone out of it. 
When this particular life has gone out of the organ- 
ism, the physical body remains, and is subject to 
the natural laws of physical substance. In accord- 
ance with these laws, the body gradually disinte- 
grates into its original chemical elements, and these 
freed elements are now ready to enter into new 
combinations in plants and animals. 

The word death is applicable then to the physical 
bodies of men, animals, and vegetables. It applies 
to their material bodies, but not to the individual- 
ized spiritual life of them, which ascends to its own 
place in the spirit-world. The word death, we say, 
applies to all these physical organisms. But there 
are other words, nearly S3^non3^mous with death, 
that mankind in general apply to human beings 
alone. Among these words are decease, demise 
exit, release, and departure. These words of 
course involve the notion that the human being 
w^hose life once filled that ph3^sical body has gone 
away elsewhere. The word death is Anglo-Saxon. 
All the other words cited are derived directly or in- 



Why she became a Spirituai.ist. 203 

directly from the Latin language. We would ex- 
pect the uncivilized Saxons, not yet developed from 
the material notions that pertain to the earliest 
stages of man, to apply the word death indiscrimin- 
ately to men and animals. But the cultured ancient 
nations of Southern Europe well knew that when a 
man "died" his immaterial part did not cease to be, 
but went away somewhere else. The pagan Em- 
peror Hadrian gracefully expressed this belief in his 
lines beginning, "Animula, vagula, blandula," where 
he says to his own soul, 

" Roving, charming, little soul, 
The guest and the companion of the body, 
Into what strange places are you now going. 
Cold, pallid, naked little thing? 
You do not jest now, as you used to do. " 

This notion of the separate existence of the soul 
has been entertained by all advanced nations. It 
seemed almost new to the Jews of the time of Jesus, 
on account of the materialistic condition into which 
that nation had fallen, during the four hundred 
years after the death of Malachi. Many of us feel 
that we owe a debt of gratitude to the Christian 
church for keeping alive a belief in the continuity of 
spirit life after the death of the body. But the 
church conception of spirit life is erroneous, limited, 
and material. Some of its features are so repulsive 
that thousands have fled to even materialism as be- 
ing preferable. Now that the glorious light of 
Spiritualism has taken away what was wrong, lim- 



204 Why she became a Spiritualist. 

ited, and material from the church notion of life in 
the spirit world, we earnestly hope that all may 
grasp these newly revealed truths. We do not 
however wish these reasonable views of spirit life 
to enter the church creeds in combination with all 
the other errors that find expression there. Can 
we believe in an amalgamation between truth and 
error? On the contrary, let those persons still in 
the church who have secretly embraced Spiritual- 
ism and are trying to wed its free teachings with 
"orthodox" doctrines, come bravely and trul}' out 
of the church. In other words, let them leave all 
errors, and receive the truth, the whole truth, and 
nothino; but the truth. 

Our second point of inquiry is the constitution of 
a human being while on the earth plane. Knowing 
that, we shall know which part, if any, is subject to 
death, and which parts are not subject to death in 
earthly conditions. 

Man, in this present earth condition, so far as we 
are able to formulate what we cannot now clearly 
comprehend, is three-fold, and is constituted of 
physical body, Spirit body, and soul. A familiar il- 
lustration proves the present existence of the spirit 
body. Persons who have lost a limb feel pains and 
discomfort in that limb just as if it were still joined 
to the body. In fact, the limb of the spirit body is 
still connected. Cases are familiar of mained per- 
sons whose limb felt cramped and suffering until the 



Why she bkcamp: a Spiritualist. 205 

severed member was taken out of some small box 
or uncomfortable position. Paul made the same 
three-fold division w^hen he spoke of "our whole 
body, soul, and spirit," though he used a somewhat 
different wording. 

The ph^^sicai body is what we see now, and know 
the appearance of each other by. Like other or- 
ganisms, it is mainly composed of carbon, hydrogen, 
oxygen, and nitrogen. This part of us is perishable ; 
and when life leaves it, it disintegrates into its origi- 
nal elements, and loses its individuality. The spirit- 
ual body permeates the physical body, and enables 
it to perform its functions. The same thing is done, 
imperfectly and temporarily, by spirits who enter 
the form that is seen at a materializing seance. It 
was probably through such a materialized form that 
the spirit of Jesus manifested itself to the disciples 
after his dissolution. We all have a spiritual body, 
and it resembles our physical body. This resem- 
blance will enable us to recognize each other after 
we shall have entered spirit life. This spirit body 
can be developed while we live on the earth. This 
unfoldment depends on right living, feeling, and 
thinking. The better it be developed while we are 
in earth life, the better equipped shall we be on en- 
tering the Spirit-world. This spirit body does not 
perish, w^hen the physical body perishes. Within 
the spirit body is the soul, which is a vital spark 
from the fire of infinite being, a drop from the fount- 



2o6 Why she became a Spiritualist. 

ain of infinite life. The spirit body is as individual 
as the phj^sical body. So far as we now see, the 
soul within has become individualized, and will retain 
its identity and self-consciousness forever. It lives 
and moves and has its being in infinite life, and yet 
it possesses and rejoices in its individual entity. 
This derived, separate, and yet dependent existence 
of an individual soul is the most wonderful thing in 
the universe. The unfoldment of this soul should 
be our main object here, and it engages and will en- 
gage the attention of all progressive beings in the 
Spirit-world. 

On this foundation of the three-fold nature of man, 
we say that "death" is the separation of the imper- 
ishable spirit-body and soul from the perishable 
physical body. When this takes place, what is left? 
The dead phj^sical body, the corpse. It is still dear 
to those who loved the being who once inhabited it, 
but the life having gone it is destined soon to decay, 
and must be quickly disposed of. 

This separation of the spirit body from the earthly 
body is really our second birth, and is what Jesus 
alluded to in John 3: 5. God being spirit, Jesus 
sought to make Nicodemus see that he would not 
enter the kingdom of spirit until he should be born 
again. When we enter the Spirit-world, we can 
apprehend spirit and spiritual things to a degree 
that is now impossible. In our first birth, we 
emerge from the safe, comfortable, but circum- 



Why she became a Spiritualist. 207 

scribed resting-place in the bosom of our mother, 
into a new world. We were alive there, but that 
life was narrow, and we would not wish to return 
to it. By and by, we shall be born the second 
time. As before, we pass from a narrow, circum- 
scribed life into a freer, brighter life ; and, as before, 
we would not wish to return to the previous strait- 
ened existence. 

Clairvoyance has cast a new and glorious light 
on what is called death. A clairvoyant person is 
one in whom the eyes of the spirit body have been 
so developed that, though still in the physical bod}^, 
he can see the spirit bodies of those in spirit life, 
and many other features of that existence. This is 
one of the most beautiful and desirable phases of 
mediumship, and should be earnestly cultivated by 
those who can obtain it. It was possessed by many 
of the early Christians and is called "discerning of 
spirits" in i Cor. 12: 10. Persons who sometimes 
see waves of light, when they quietly repose in 
darkness, possess the germ of this most satisfactory 
power. It was increased, in the case of the writer, 
by putting herself habitually in harmony with the 
magnetic currents of the earth.* 

After the advent of Modern Spiritualism had re- 
vived this glorious clairvoyant power, it began to 
be hoped that persons thus gifted could really see 

* A work on this subject, giving- full particulars and directions, will be 
published later by the author of this book. 



2o8 Why she became a Spiritualist. 

the separation of the spirit from the body, and tell 
the world the actual meaning of the word "death." 
We believe that Andrew Jackson Davis was one of 
the first to see the transition from earth life to spirit 
life, and he has written a minute account of what he 
saw. This separation of the arising spirit from the 
fleshly tabernacle has been seen many times by per- 
sons in the clairvoyant state, and has been frequent- 
ly described. We will recapitulate the main feat- 
ures of what takes place. 

What does the clairvoyant see.'^ Over the body 
of the dying person, he sees a light cloud form and 
thicken. As the lower limbs become cold, this 
cloud gathers towards the vital parts of the body, 
This process continues until the light cloud, having 
become more dense and firm, assumes a globular 
shape, and hovers over the head of the dying one. 
This globe of light is connected with the top of the 
head (the organ of veneration or spirituality, and 
the part that retains the vital heat the longest) by a 
slender cord that looks like silver. After a time, 
this globe of light begins to assume the form and 
features of the person when in earth life. He looks 
the same, except that he looks smaller, more refined, 
and more beautiful. Around this form, the clairvo}^- 
ant sees loving spirits, the friends of the new-comer 
into spirit life, who are aiding the process and re- 
ceiving the new-born one. When perfectly formed, 
the cord separates, and the happy spirit, being now 



Why she became a Spiritualist. 209 

lighter than the air, easily ascends in company with 
his rejoicing friends, who show him the way to his 
new spirit home. George MacDonald has beauti- 
fully remarked that the happy smile so often seen 
on the face of the dead is the last impress made by 
the vanishing psyche as she sees the bliss into which 
she is entering. "How happy he looks!" we some- 
times murmur, as we look on the face of a dead 
friend. JVo wonder thai he looks hafpy I 

With regard to that silvery electric cord, Mr. 
Davis says that though it separates, a small portion 
of electricity remains with the body. He says that 
it is owing to this that disintegration does not take 
place instantly. This merciful provison gives time 
for the loving, tender rites of those who love that 
dead house of clay. 

But, does Spiritualism give us any information 
that may serve the interests of our friends who are 
about to leave this life? Communicating spirits tell 
us much in this connection that we wish to know. 

In the first place, those who love the dying one 
should try to facilitate the inevitable departure 
rather than to prevent it. The psychic power of 
reluctant friends makes it hard for the spirit to be 
freed from the body. Some of us remember how 
in Mrs. Browning's "Isobel's Child," the dying babe 
begs its mother to loose her prayer. ''It bindeth 
me, it holdeth me," sighs the little one. 

The most truly loving friends are the unselfish 



2IO Why she became a Spiritualist. 

ones who repress their sobs and unavailing entreat- 
ies, and in gentle quietude let the departing soul free 
smoothly and without hindrance from the toil-worn 
body. Going as he is to old friends and to another 
and more beautiful life, let us not break in on the 
coming rupture by sounds of lamentation and ago- 
nies of supplication. If our letting them go enables 
them to go more happily, let us forget ourselves, 
and maintain a conduct that will permit the scenes 
of earth to fade gently into the glory of the spirit 
life! The faces of dear ones gone before hover 
over the enraptured gaze of him who is about to 
join them. 

A dear friend whose only child, a beautiful girl 
of sixteen, was borne away to spirit-life, has one 
consoling memory of those last sad days. The 
mother had a sister in the spirit world whom the 
child had never seen, but whose name she had often 
heard. The last two da3's of her earth life the 
young girl was unconscious much of the time. 
When she aroused, and saw her mother tenderly 
ministering to her, she would say, *'Oh! I thought 
it was aunt ^.^ — ," naming the aunt she had never 
known. Her mother has the comforting knowledge 
that her darling child was learning to know that 
dear relative while still in the body, and the assur- 
ance that she went peacefully to her new home in 
her tender care. 

And does Spiritualism tell us how to dispose of 



Why she became a Spiritualist. 211 

the deserted body, in a way to favor the interests of 
the arisen spirit? It does give us valuable informa- 
tion on this important point. A full enjoyment of 
the freedom of spirit life cannot be attained till the 
old physical body has begun to resolve into its origi- 
nal elements. Hence, it is unwise to put the body 
on ice, or to embalm it. These attempts to retard 
the disintegration of the body tend to hold the spirit 
in earth conditions. We suppose that the best 
method of all, so far as the ascended spirit is con- 
cerned, is that of placing the body on a platform up 
in some lofty tree, as was practiced by some of the 
Indian tribes. The spirit can hover near, as the 
body passes into its original elements, and the arisen 
one gradually and easily becomes acquainted with 
its new mode of life and new means of locomotion. 

Under the present conditions of civilized life, with 
the earth becoming more densely populated from 
day to day, we find that advanced spirits strongly 
advise the cremation of the body. Some who had 
been cremated have described their sensations in 
spirit. Of course they were conscious of no pain. 
The speedy separation into the original elements by 
the action of fire completely emancipated the spirit 
from all ph3^sical conditions. This was effected so 
quickly that these spirits testify that they came very 
suddenly into a blaze of light that almost dazed them. 
They soon became accustomed to it, however, and 



212 Why she became a Spiritualist. 

speak strongly in favor of this method of disposing- 
of the abandoned earth-house. 

So the welfare of the dead, as well as of the living, 
is promoted by the burning of the bodies of the 
dead." Spiritualism here, as elsewhere, is in accord 
with the views of the best scientists of the day. 
Burning the bodies of the dead burns up all those 
tiny unwelcome guests whose harborage has, in 
most cases of disease, expelled the original and law- 
ful tenant. By shortening the period of his earth 
life, they have deprived him of the share of physical 
existence that was his due. It is probable that the 
deleterious bacilli and microbes come from the "fer- 
mentation," described by Mr. Hiram E. Butler, in 
his "Seven Creative Principles," and we shall not 
object to seeing them "transmuted" by fire. The 
spirit world advocates cremation because the destruc- 
tion of the germs of disease promotes physical health 
and so prolongs life. They understand better than 
we do that we enter spirit life better equipped by 
having had the full measure of earth experience; 
and that whatever shortens life here detracts from 
our complete development. 

Recurring to what clairvoyants have seen at the 
time a spirit is freed from the body, we are remind- 
ed of the experience of a lady who knew very little 
of Spiritualism. Her little daughter four years of 
age lay at the point of death. She was her only 
child, and her agony at losing her darling seemed 



Why she became a Spiritualist. 213 

beyond endurance. In feeble health herself, she 
thought she could not survive the loss of her little 
girl. She gazed despairingly at her idol, and knew 
that the moment of separation was near. Suddenly, 
the walls of the room seemed to have disappeared. 
She saw the beautiful blue sky strewn with white 
fleecy clouds. Amid the clouds was a large com- 
pany of little children. Stretching out their hands 
towards her little girl, with beckoning gestures and 
happy smiles they seemed to ask her to join them. 
Then she saw her darling rise from the bed, stretch- 
ing out her little arms to that rejoicing company. 
Her dress was pure w^hite, her yellow curls floated 
behind her. Laughing joyfully, she floated up, up, 
till she joined those other children, and they all 
went together into the fleecy clouds up in the blue 
sky. The sky disappeared, the mother saw again 
the walls of her room, and the body of her little 
girl lay on the bed, but the spirit was not there. 
This comforting vision showed the mother that her 
darling still lived, and that she had gone with lov- 
ing little ones to a beautiful home. Her sorrow 
was deep indeed, but there was an element of con- 
solation, instead of stony despair, from this glorious 
glimpse into the Spirit-world. Later, she some- 
times heard the merry laugh and the word "Mama" 
in tender tones. The bright presence is gone from 
her daily life, but she knows that her precious one 



214 Why she became a Spiritualist. 

still lives, and that sometime, she will clasp her 
again, no more to part. 

Is this view of death simple and beautiful? It is 
more than beautiful : it is true. 

Entering on spirit life is not a resurrection. That 
word means a rising again^ a resumption of life. 
When we "die," we do not cease to live for awhile, 
and then begin to live again. Not at all. We go 
on living. The only part of us that ever knew an}^- 
thing at all is more alive than ever, for it no longer 
has the body to impede its activity. Those who 
cling to the old doctrine of the resurrection think 
that the body of Jesus came to life again, and that 
it lived again. This doctrine is a materialistic one. 
The teachings of Spiritualism have gradually 
leavened these old notions, so that many "orthodox" 
ministers are now declaring that what the disciples 
saw after the burial of their master was his glorified 
body, and not his previous physical body. What 
became of that ph3^sical bod}-^, they do not presume 
to say. Some advanced spirits tell us that the 
Nazarene belonged to the brotherhood of the Es- 
senes, and that some of the "brethren" carried the 
body away and buried it in secrecy. Whether that 
be so or not, Spiritualists know well that if his body 
really died, it never lived again; and that what the 
disciples saw in the upper room at Jerusalem, by the 
Sea of Galilee, and on the mount of ascension, was a 
temporary materialization of their arisen teacher. 



Why she became a Spiritualist. 215 

Science, unenlightened by the facts of Spiritual- 
ism, is unable to tell us what death is. Herbert 
Spencer says life is "The definite combination of 
heterogeneous changes, both simultaneous and suc- 
cessive, in correspondence with external co-exis- 
tences and sequences." According to this, in death 
this ^'definite combination" comes to an end. This 
definition is excellent, so far as it applies to the 
merely physical part of us. But Herbert Spencer 
does not tell us what becomes of the "real, thinking, 
feeling man," when his physical body disintegrates. 
He has done noble work in systematizing the evo- 
lution theory. His mental labors have been mostly 
in the direction of our present earth life. His great, 
clear mind seeks the truth. It is possible that full 
illumination may not come to him in earth life. But, 
once freed from physical chains, no spirit will enter 
on its immortal heritage with more conscious joy 
than will this great thinker of our time. 

The unsolved mystery that has puzzled philoso- 
phers has been cleared up by Modern Spiritualism. 
In "death," so called, the spirit body is born out of 
the physical body into a freer life. This we know, 
though what that new life will be, we cannot con- 
ceive perfectly until we experience it. Some spec- 
ulative minds ask whether we may not be destined 
to be born again into a yet more ethereal state, after 
a certain experience in spirit-life. Shall we not, 
they say, find after awhile that our constitution 



2i6 Why she became a Spiritualist. 

there has more elements than the spirit body and the 
soul that we now think of as forming our being after 
leaving the physical body? Shall we not, in time, 
discard another outward shell, and enter a still more 
spiritual existence? This thought is finely treated 
of in that remarkable poem, "Face to Face," writ- 
ten by Paul Hamilton Payne, just before his transi- 
tion into spirit life. This bright glimpse into future 
possibilities was vouchsafed to him in an inspired 
hour, and accords well with that eternal progres- 
sion which is the most precious dower of every 
spirit. Thus is the king of terrors himself trans- 
figured into a glorious and beloved angel by the 
Ithuriel touch of Modern Spiritualism. Milton pic- 
tures the unknown horror of death in a grand 
figure : 

" Black it stood as night, 
Fierce as ten furies, terrible as hell. 
And shook a dreadful dart: what seemed his head 
The likeness of a kingly crown had on." 

Another writer alludes to "the coming bulk of 
death." This fearful monster, more fearful because 
we knew not what he was, is now shorn of his ter- 
rors. What \Ve used to call death is now the open 
door into a new, immortal, and yet a natural life. 
Loved faces will bend over us, their familiar hand- 
clasp will greet us, the long departed father and 
mother will enfold us in their embrace. They will 
lead us up the shining pathway. They will teach 
us what we would know. We shall in time learn to 



Why she became a Spiritualist. 217 

speak the spirit language, by which all spirits can 
communicate with each other. We shall always 
love the memory of the earth, for it was there that 
we began to live. 

With such a glorious prospect before us, can we 
not bear patiently the pains and losses of this fleet- 
ing earth life? Every care, patiently borne; every 
temptation of the lower nature, bravely conquered; 
every unselfish act, every true word, every loving 
smile wdll develop our spiritual nature here, and make 
\Qt whiter the robes we shall wear there. Our 
friends in spirit may know what we are doing. All 
our acts here re-act on our condition there. Let 
these incentives influence our daily conduct, and let 
us live for the glorious life awaiting us in the Spirit- 
world! 



2i8 Why she became a Spiritualist. 



FACE TO FACE. 



The following poem, probably the best of its kind in the language, was 
written bj' Paul Hamilton Hayne shortly before his death. " I wish the 
world to know," he said, " that this is my view of death, as a dying man." 



' Sad mortal ! couldst thou but know 

What truly it means to die, 
The wings of thy soul would glow, 

And the hopes of thy heart beat high; 
Thou wouldst turn from the sceptical schools 
^ And laugh their jargon to scorn, 
As the babble of midnight fools, 

Fre the morning of truth be born; 
But I. earth's madness above, 

In a kingdom of stormless breath — 
I gaze on the glor}' of love 

In the unveiled face of death. 



' I tell thee, his face is fair 

As the moon-bow's amber rings. 
And the gleam in his unbound hair, 

I,ike the flush of a thousand springs; 
His smile is the fathomless beam 

Of the star-shine's sacred light, 
"When the summers of Southland dream 

In the lap of the holy Night; 
For I, earth's blindness above, 

Ip. a kingdom of tranquil breath — 
I gaze on the marvel of love 

In the unveiled face of Death. 



' In his eyes a heaven there dwells — 
But they hold few mysteries now — 

And his pity for earth's farewells 
Half furrows that shining brow; 

Souls taken from time's cold tide 
He folds to his fostering breast. 



Why she became a Spiritualist. 219 



And the tears of their grief are dried 
Ere they enter the courts of rest: 

And still, earth's madness above, 
In a kingdom of stormless breath — 

I gaze on a light that is love 
In the unveiled face of Death. 



' Through the splendor of stars impearled 

In the glow of their far-off grace, 
He is soaring world by world, 

With the souls in his strong embrace; 
Lone ethers, unstirred by a wind, 

At the passage of Death grow sweet 
With the fragrance that floats behind 

The flash of his winged retreat; 
And I, earth's madness above, 

'Mid a kingdom of peaceful breath, 
Have gazed on the lustre of love 

In the unveiled face of Death. 



' But bej'ond the stars and the sun 

I can follow him still on his way, 
Till the pearl-white gates are won 

In the calm of the central day. 
For the voices of fond acclaim 

Thrill down from the place of souls, 
As Death with a touch like flame, 

Uncloses the goal of goals: 
And from heavens of heavens above 

God speaketh with trancjiil breath — 
M5' angel of perfect love 

Is the angel men call Death! " 



LECTURE XL 

THE ASTRONOMICAL LOCATION OF THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

In all ages and among all races of mankind, when 
men have thought of existence after death, they have 
wondered where they were to be. Were they to 
"wing their flight from star to star;" or, being spirit, 
were they to be wholly destitute of existence in 
space at all? The various mythologies have given 
varied opinions on this point. The sun-loving, happy 
Greek had a very sad notion of life after the death 
of the body. Destitute of all covering, the souls 
even of the good were to go below the surface of 
the earth. There in Hades, with no sun nor moon 
nor star, they were to while away existence, longing 
forevermore to revisit the dear sun-illumined earth. 
Only a very few mortals, specially favored by the 
gods, were not subject to death, and went to dwell 
in the Elysian\Fields west of the earth, beyond the 
ocean. 

The Hindoo, Scandinavian, and Mohammedan 
abodes of the dead were not located in any accord- 
ance wdth modern astronomical or geologic science. 
The happy hunting grounds of the American In- 
dians give a natural and reasonable notion of what 



Why she became a Spiritualist. 221 

would be heaven to them; and, as we shall see fur- 
ther on, accord with the true nature and locality of 
the spirit-world. 

When we turn to the Hebrew Scriptures, we do 
not find any more reasonable notions of the spirit 
world than those given by the other religions. As 
to the Old Testament, that maintains a nearly total 
silence on even the continuance of life after the death 
of the body. How gloomy are the words of even 
the wise vSolomon in Ecclesiastes 9: S? "The living 
know that they shall die : but the dead know not 
anything." He also says in verse ten of the same 
chapter, "There is no work, nor knowledge, nor 
wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest." Solo- 
mon, though the Christian church claim that his 
words were inspired by Almighty God, seems to 
have been an agnostic and a positivist of the most 
pronounced type. We think that those who decry 
the skepticism of John Stuart Mill and Huxley better 
amend their Bibles and leave out the book of 
Ecclesiastes. 

So uncertain was the Jew regarding a world be- 
yond the grave that the teachings of the spiritual 
Nazarene were indeed a new revelation to him. 
Jesus never claimed to raise a person from the dead 
into the life of this world, but he was ever conscious 
of a life beyond and outside of this physical existence. 
Spirits attended him in his hours of solitude. When 
he was hanging on the cruel cross, from w^hich he 



22 2 Why she became a Spiritualist. 

knew that death alone could free him, he had cer- 
tain fore-knowledge of the coming spirit-life. He 
said to the thief who suffered by his side, that that 
same day he would be with him in a pleasant park; 
for the Greek word "paradeisos," which he used, 
simpl}' meant a most beautiful pleasure-garden. He 
was fully aware that this thief, who had a kindty, 
loving nature, and that he himself, whose sole aim 
was to be good, would be in a very pleasant place 
as soon as their souls could get out of their suffering 
bodies. He used to tell his disciples that there 
were many mansions in the world beyond, and 
that he would personally prepare them for them, if 
they were only faithful to what he had taught them. 
But a great many years after Jesus had passed 
into spirit life, when the good John was nearty a 
hundred years old, he was confined a prisoner on a 
lonely little island. There he passed into a trance 
state, and had very vivid visions of scenes beyond 
our daily life. But his visions of the beyond were 
colored b}^ his own mental constitution and religious 
prejudices. Being alwa3^s a Jew, the heaven that 
John saw was^ of course a new Jerusalem, a spiritual 
revival of the old capital of his nation. Not long 
ago, we heard Mr. Hull speak of this conception of 
heaven by John. He remarked that as gold was 
then esteemed beyond all natural beauty, John cov- 
ered the streets of the city with that metal; while 
the present notion of heaven would be that we would 



Why she became a Spiritualist. 223 

tread on flowers. Yes: instead of gates of pearl 
and walls of precious stones, the heaven we know 
of will have no walls at all, and the little children 
will run about everwhere, and we shall have all the 
most exquisite flowers ever dreamed of by a poor 
invalid in a crowded city hospital. John's heaven, a 
solid cube, walled in and covered wath gold, accorded 
with the notions of his time, but it does not accord 
with what is taught us by Modern SpirituaHsm. 

It will not of course be expected that man should 
be able to locate the spirit-world, while the ancient 
erroneous notions of the earth and the heavenly 
bodies prevailed. To the primeval man, the earth 
was a flat plain, warmed and lighted by a fiery ball 
that passed at regular periods over it, and also light- 
ed by other balls or spots of light that took their 
course with more or less regularity. As the reason 
of man grew, an innate idea of an efficient cause of 
each effect led him to query what the flat plain 
rested on. Some of the old mythologies told him 
that it rested on the coils of a great serpent. If he 
ventured to ask what held the serpent up, probably 
the priests told him that was a mystery, and that 
somethmg dreadful was sure to happen to him, if he 
should try to find out what w^as meant to be hidden 
from human vision. Modern clergymen have met 
in the same way the question how a finite being can 
at the same time be an infinite being. But the hu- 
man mind is no longer in its babyhood. It can no 



224 Why she became a Spiritualist. 

longer be hushed to sleep by a childish nursery song. 

In course of time, the absolute regularity in the 
motions of some of those bright spots in the sky 
arrested attention. They made practical, everyday 
use of some of these phenomena, and the science of 
astronomy began. But many, many hundred years 
passed before man was able to seize upon the true 
relation between this great solid earth, and those 
brilliant lights overhead. They were used for 
"signs and for seasons, and for days and years." 
Little did they think that some of these spots of 
light were far bulkier than the earth they trod upon. 
Moses described them and their creation according 
to the crude notions of astronomy that prevailed in 
his time. An acceptance of this fact gives a com- 
plete key to the harmon}^ between what seemed to 
Moses and what is knozvn to modern astronomers 
and geologists. Those who are interested in pur- 
suing this tho\ight are referred to Boardman's "Cre- 
ative Week," a work written in the interests of the 
church, and yet pregnant with much that is true, 
and redolent with real spirituality. 

We alluded a few paragraphs back to John's no- 
tion of a cubical heaven, measuring fifteen hundred 
miles each way. That this notion of John was con- • 
sidered a mere vision by the Christian church, and 
not to be taken literally, is proved by its accepting 
Dante's representation of hell, purgatory, and 
heaven. In fact, Dante took man}^ of the theories 



Why she became a Spiritualist. 225 

preached in the churches in his day, and welded 
them into one harmonious, though mistaken whole. 
His conception, though narrow and erroneous, is 
deeply interesting to the student of astronomy, for 
it shows the progress the world had made toward 
the truth since Ptolemy taught in Alexandria in the 
second century after Christ. 

Dante, who was born in 1265, places the begin- 
ning of his journey into spirit-life in the 3^ear 1300. 
He was familiar with all the learning and all the phi- 
losophical speculations of his time. Those who 
think that everybody believed the earth was a flat 
plain and that the heavenly bodies moved around it, 
until Kepler gave the true plan of the solar system 
and Galileo proved it by his little telescope, have 
an incorrect viev/. Little by little did the true 
system of the universe creep into the mind of man. 
Three hundred years before Galileo, Dante present- 
ed a scheme of the spirit world that approximated 
the truth. He evidently did not believe the earth 
was a flat plain, for he places the mountain of Pur- 
gatory in a great ocean on the other side of the world. 

We will recapitulate his plan of the spirit world, 
pointing out the truth and the error of its astronom- 
ical features. Like Homer and Virgil, he makes 
hell below the surface of the earth. It is therefore 
unlighted by sun, rnoon, or star. He makes hell 
consist of nine circles, each one smaller and deeper 
than the preceding, and he places the ninth or lowest 



2 26 Why she became a Spiritualist. 

circle exactly in the center of the earth. He places 
the entrance to the uppermost circle of hell not far 
from Jerusalem. Occasionally in going down he 
meets rivers that had their origin on the surface 
of the earth. These special rivers flow downward; 
and, as there is nothing to prevent their doing so, 
their waters gravitate to the center of the earth. 
That Dant.e thought of the earth as a globe, with 
an attractive power at its center which acted equally 
in all directions, is evident from the disposition he 
makes of Satan. Those who had taken their own 
lives or the lives of others by violence were placed 
in the seventh circle. Those who had deceived 
were placed far below the violent, in the eighth cir- 
cle. And awa}^ below the eighth circle, at the center 
of the earth, are the traitors, who combined murder 
with fraud. At the central point, Satan the arch- 
traitor is placed. Now comes the proof that Dante 
w^as well aware of a center of gravity that acted 
equally in every direction. He and his guide Vir- 
gil creep down the gigantic body of Satan, until 
they reach the center of his body, at the center of 
the earth. At that point, instead of climbing down, 
they are suddenly obliged to reverse their own bod- 
ies completely; and, as they go along the legs of 
Satan towards his feet, they are forced to climb up. 
They continue climbing until in process of ascending 
they at last reach the other side of the world and 
"again behold the stars." 



Why she became a Spiritualist. 227 

We now come to a superstitious absurdity, which 
the great poet mingles with much that we may call 
wise, and even scientific — for the fourteenth century. 
He gives us to understand that when Deity threw 
Satan from heaven he struck the earth feet first. 
His impetus carried him to the center of the earth, 
where gravitation held him fast. But his immense 
bulk displaced an immense amount of earth sub- 
stance, and so the mount purgatory was pushed out 
from the ocean on the other side of the world from 
where Satan struck the earth. Well, on this mount- 
ain are the seven circles of purgatory, and on its 
summit is the Terrestrial Paradise. 

We see then that he located hell and purgatory- 
wholly on or within this earth. Where does Dante 
place the third part of spirit-existence — Heaven? 
If he had made the earth a plain, lighted by brilliant 
dots of light, he would have had no place for heaven. 
But he evidently thought of the heavenl}^ bodies as 
worlds like our own, for it is in these different 
worlds that he places the nine spheres of heaven. 
And yet, the successive arrangement of these 
heavens shows that he was very ignorant on two 
points. He did not know accurately the relative 
position of these heavenly bodies, and he had no 
conception of their relative size. We will name his 
heavens in their order, and the errors in his arrange- 
ment will be evident. His first heaven is located in 
the moon: the second, in Mercury ; the third, in 



2 28 Why she became a Spiritualist. 

Venus; the fourth, in the sun; the fifth, in Mars; 
the sixth, in Jupiter; the seventh, in Saturn; the 
eighth, in the stars Castor and Pollux; and the ninth, 
at the center of the universe, where the trinal nature 
of the Deity is manifested by the three primary 
colors. This last point shows that even Newton's 
theory of the composition of light was not quite un- 
known to the philosophic Dante. 

Of course in this delineation of Dante's plan, we 
have not alluded to his theology, nor to the horrible 
misrepresentation of Divine justice that he perpe- 
trates in discribing the tortures of his hell. To quote 
Mr. Ingersoll, like some modern churches he made 
God "an eternal jailer, without the pardoning 
power." We have simply given the astronomical 
bearings of Dante's scheme. 

The main error in his plan is that all these heavens 
are made for man alone. One is led to inquire, 
"Where is the heaven of the inhabitants of Saturn, 
for instance, if Saturn is only one of the heavens for 
the good of this earth?" We have, however, no 
fault to find with his plan of hell and heaven, for 
it is in accordance with the imperfect notions of the 
solar system that belonged to the fourteenth century. 
His heavens are far in advance of the heaven 
described by John about twelve hundred years 
before. He is not to blame for his horrible distortion 
of infinite life into a cruel and vengeful demon, 
for he heard these wicked notions proclaimed in the 



Why she became a Spiritualist. 229 

church of which he was a most devout member. 

Let us now see what effect the laws of Kepler 
and the telescope of Galileo had on the conceptions 
of the church, as voiced by the genius of Milton. 
What was Milton's plan of the universe? We will 
present it as clearly and as concisely as possible. 

While it is true that Galileo's little instrument had 
not been able to give to the world the enormous di- 
mensions of heavenly bodies and their inconceivable 
distances from each other, as modern telescopes have 
enabled astronomers of our day to do, yet in Milton's 
time, the relations of the members of the solar sys- 
tem were well understood. We shall therefore find 
none of the crude errors that Dante fell into. Mil- 
ton's plan was a grand one, and worthy of his genius. 

He considers that all that is, is embraced in a 
sphere wdth an infinite radius. Half this sphere is 
heaven, a region of light, beauty, and happiness, 
where God reigns. A solid crystal floor separates it 
from chaos, which occupied once all of the other half. 
When Satan and his angels rebelled against God's 
newly begotten son,* they were driven through the 
crystal floor of heaven, and through chaos. During 
the nine days they were falling through chaos, God's 
will was creating hell for their reception, at the 
other side of the infinite sphere, and as far as possi- 
ble "from God and lig^ht and heaven." Hell had a 

* See "Paradise I^ost," Book V, lines 603 and 604. 



230 Why she became a Spiritualist. 

lake of fire in the center, and it was surrounded by 
land that burned with solid fire. Outside of this 
was the frozen continent. Into this dungeon the 
rebels were shut. Nine days they lay wallowing in 
the lake of fire, and during these nine days, God 
was making the starry universe out of the part of 
chaos that was nearest to the center of the crystal 
floor of heaven. In the center of the starry universe 
he places our earth. 

We see then that Milton's astronomical scheme is 
superior to Dante's. But alas! his God has the 
same terrible features as Dante's God, and both 
these great poets accepted the eternal abode of tor- 
ture that they had learned to believe in as members 
of the Christian church. 

Milton's notion of the spirit-world is open to the 
same objection as Dante's. He makes it all for God, 
angels, demons, and inhabitants of this world. They 
both leave wholly out of account the inhabitants of 
all the other worlds. In comparison with these 
other worlds, our earth is as one little drop to the 
Pacific ocean, and no view of the Spirit-world of our 
earth can be true, unless it be in harmony with the 
general plan of the universe, and unless it account 
for all the facts therein. 

Friends, it was claimed by the founders of Chris- 
tianity that the Nazarene was the logos of God. As 
the Greek word logos means word, this claim means 
that by Jesus, God spoke to man. So he did, for he 



Why she became a Spiritualist. 231 

told men that God was spirit, and he forced his fol- 
lowers to believe that life continues after the death 
of the body. Now, friends, this Greek word logos, 
meaning word, that was applied to Jesus, also means 
science. Did you ever count how many of the 
sciences of our day have the termination logy, which 
of course is derived from this very word logos? 
Perhaps a hundred sciences end in this same Greek 
word, as geology, philology, conchology, astrology, 
psychology, demonology, physiology. What does 
this mean? We think it means simply this. Long 
ago, w^hen Jesus lived, and man was just emerging 
from a physical condition, he was taught the spirit- 
ual nature of himself and of God. At that time he 
knew but little of the laws of nature. Jesus 
knew how to apply natural forces, but the ignorant 
people w^ho surrounded him called his acts miracu- 
lous. But in our age, since Bacon taught us to in- 
vestigate the forces of nature, in order to use them, 
and thus paved the way for all the modern sciences, 
it is by the sciences that God speaks to man. In this 
nineteenth century, therefore, the Christ of the age, 
in other words the manifestation of Deity, is in all 
these various sciences, or "logics," many of which 
Bacon foresaw in his "Prodromi." 

It is to the test of scientific truth that we now 
bring every statement. To this test we now apply, 
not only the material things we see and feel, but the 
immaterial substances, as psyche and spirit. Is 



232 Why she became a Spiritualist. 

communication b}^ electricity claimed to be possible ? 
We appl}^ to it the test of science. Is it claimed 
that the disembodied can communicate with us by 
the application of the laws of magnetism? We ap- 
ply the test of science. Is it claimed that spirits can 
temporarily materialize a physical body? We apply 
the test of science. Thus we find that even the 
Spirit-world is expected to be in harmony with 
what is already scientifically known of this earth as 
a member of the solar system. 

When the Apostle John lived on the earth, and 
when Dante wrote his poem, astronomical notions 
w^ere so erroneous that it would have been impossi- 
ble for them to give a scientific locality to the 
Spirit-world. But since astronomy has been put on 
the rigiit foundation, since its data have been proved 
by the invention of telescopes, and especially since 
spirits have been enabled to communicate w4iat they 
know to us in the flesh, it has become possible for 
us to get a clear notion of the locality of the Spirit- 
world. To present this will be the scope of the 
remainder of the lecture. 

In the first place, let us rid ourselves of the no- 
tion that the Spirit-world is disconnected wdth this 
earth on w^hich we now dwell. Let us cast aside 
the notion that there is one enormous Spirit-world, 
which is the home of all the spirits from all the 
worlds in space. This physical earth is our original 
home. Here we came into individual existence. 



Why she became a Spiritualist. 233 

Here we had our experience in physical conditions. 
This earth is our home now; and by and by, when 
we leave the physical bod}^ it will be in the spirit- 
world which belongs to our dear mother earth that 
we shall dwell. Of course a time may come in the 
remote future that we may visit other worlds. But 
in our opinion, that will not be until we shall have 
advanced so far in spiritual development that it will 
not be possible for us to communicate with those 
who will then be living on the surface of the earth 
in physical conditions. This explains why spirits 
do not tell us very definitely about life in the other 
worlds. Meanwhile, let us not expect to know all 
now, and let us rejoice that we shall have an eter- 
nity in which to go on learning of all the aspects of 
immortal life. 

Now to show where the spirit-world of our dear 
earth is, and to show that it is amply large enough 
for all that have ever lived on this globe, and for all 
that will ever live here, we will refer to the simple 
facts of astronom3\ Of course, our spirit-world 
must be very large — inconceivabty large — to make 
room for all. Geo. A. Schufeldt estimates that at 
least 177,000,000,000 persons must have lived on 
the earth, if man began onty six thousand years 
ago. To show ample space for this tremendous 
number, we offer the following considerations. 

This earth seems so very large to us that we gen- 
erally lose sight of the immense spaces that sepa- 



2 34 Why she became a Spirituaeist. 

rate it from the nearest planets. To give us some 
faint notion of these spaces, let us use an illustra- 
tion given on page 69 of Steele's " Fourteen Weeks 
on Astronomy." 

We will imagine a large level plain, and in the 
middle of this plain we will place a globe only two 
feet in diameter. This globe will represent the sun. 
We all know that this earth, which seems so large 
to us, is 8,000 miles in diameter. The diameter of 
the sun is about 850,000 miles, and it would there- 
fore take more than one hundred earths like our 
own, strung on a wire, to reach across the sun. It 
would of course then take more than one million 
earths like our own, to make up the mass of the 
sun. In our illustration, however, we represent this 
enormous mass, equal in bulk to 1,245,000 earths, 
by the globe two feet in diameter, which we place 
in the center of our plain to represent the sun. On 
this scale, Vulcan, the planet nearest to the sun will 
be about the size of the head of a pin, and yet this 
minute object will revolve around the sun at the 
distance of about twenty-seven feet. Mercury will 
be a mustard seed, and will yet be eighty-two feet 
from the sun. Venus will be represented by a pea, 
and it will revolve at a distance of one hundred and 
forty-t\vo feet. Our great earth, eight thousand 
miles in diameter, with its continents, Asia, Africa, 
Europe, North and South America; its great oceans 
Atlantic, Indian, Pacific, Arctic, and Antarctic, will 



Why she became a Spirituaeist. 235 

be represented b}^ another ^cj^/; and it will perform 
its revolution around this sun of two feet in diame- 
ter, at a distance of tzuo hundred and fifteen feet. 
Mars, the size of a pepper-corn, w411 be three hund- 
red and twenty-seven feet from the sun. Jupiter, a 
moderate-sized orange, will be a quarter of a mile 
distant. Saturn, a small orange, will be two-fifths 
of a mile away. Uranus, the size of a cherry, v^dll 
be three-quarters of a mile away. And Neptune, 
the most distant planet yet discovered, will be rep- 
resented by a plum, and will perform its revolutions 
about this globe two feet in diameter, at the distance 
of one mile and a quarter. 

This illustration, clearly conceived by the mind, 
presents to us one surprising feature. We are 
amazed by the enormous, disproportion existing 
between the size of the planets and the distance 
each one is placed from the others and from the 
central sun. In fact, the thought of a pea, for in- 
stance, measuring hour by hour its great orbit, is 
almost ludicrous. It seems really ridiculous that a 
plum should perform this enormous revolution, at a 
distance of one mile and a quarter from its central 
body. And when we multiply these distances until 
they reach their true figures, how amazing it is to 
think that lonely Neptune is measuring his enor- 
mous orbit at a distance of 2,800,000,000 miles from 
the sun! And what a wondrous fact that Venus, 
our nearest neighbor, excepting our dear own moon. 



236 Why she bi^came a Spiritualist. 

has an orbit about 25,000,000 of miles from our 
own; while Mars, our nearest neighbor on the out- 
side, never comes nearer to us than does Venus. 

Friends, if these worlds that shine in space by the 
reflected light of the sun, were only the ph3^sical 
worlds that we see with these physical eyes, we 
might well inquire, "Wh}^ are all these enormous 
empty spaces between this worlds?" and, "Why 
does all this space run to waste?" 

But learning what we have in the last forty 3^ears 
of the condition of those who have left the body, 
knowing that they can at times revisit us, and that 
their spirit world is closely allied to our own, what 
conclusion do we inevitably reach? Is it not reason- 
able, and in perfect harmony with astronomical 
science, that the spirit-world of each planet envelops 
it, and extends away out into the ethereal space, and 
ever accompanies it, in its stupendous journey around 
the sun? In accordance with this teaching of our 
spirit friends, each inhabitant begins existence on its 
own globe, has his own ph^^sical experience there, 
in time leaves the body, and enters the spirit world 
contiguous to his own globe. There he finds those 
he used to knoAV. For a period, he remains in the 
border-land between the ph^^sical world and the 
spirit-world. As he progresses, he becomes more 
freed from physical conditions, and passes further on 
in his own spirit-world. 

Where then is the spirit- world of the earth? Is 



Why she became a Spiritualist. 237 

the physical earth itself a part of the spirit- world? 
Most certainl}^ The proof of this lies in the fact 
that we are spirits, though our spirits are yet con- 
fined in the enswathing fleshy covering. Being 
wrapped in flesh, we are heavier than the air, and 
are held down to the surface of the earth by a pres- 
sure of fifteen pounds to the square inch. 

By and by, when we are born the second time, 
our spiritual body will be born out of this physical 
body. That spiritual body is lighter than the air, 
though it has its own ethereal substance. Being 
freed from the heavy flesh body, it will walk on the 
air, and naturally ascend to the regions beyond the 
dense atmosphere which is now our vital breath. 
We shall feel natural there. We shall feel alive. 
And when we become used to the means of locomo- 
tion, and to the mode of living, we shall find our- 
selves far better off than while we were going 
through our physical experience here. 

Do you think we shall forget our friends who will 
be still down on the earth? Indeed w^e shall not for- 
get them. We shall learn the laws by w^hich we 
can reach them, and communicate to them the 
blessed truth that none of us will never die. We 
shall help them all we can, and prepare a home for 
them when they too wall in their turn drop the con- 
ditions of physical life, and enter the beautiful Spirit- 
world which envelops what we shall always remem- 
ber as our dear Mother-Earth. 



238 Why she became a Spiritualist. 



THE BETTER IvAND. 



I hear thee speak of a better land; 
Thou call'st its children a happy band; 
Mother! Oh, where is that radiant shore, — 
Shall we not seek it and weep no more? 
Is it where the flower of the orange blows, 
And the fire-flies dance through the myrtle boughs? 
'Not there, not there, my child.' 



Is it where the feathery palm-trees rise, 
And the date grows ripe under sunny skies, 
Or 'midst the green isles of glittering seas, 
Where fragrant forests perfume the breeze, 
And strange bright birds, on their starry wings, 
Bear the rich hues of all glorious things?' 
'Not there, not there, my child.* 



Is it far away in some region old, 
Where the rivers wander o'er sands of gold — 
Where the burning rays of the ruby shine. 
And the diamond lights up the secret mine, 
And the pearl gleams forth from the coral strand, 
Is it there, sweet mother, that better land?' 
'Not there, not there, my child.' 



' Eye hath not seen it, my gentle boy! 
Ear hath not heard its deep songs of joy, 
Dreams cannot picture a world so fair. 
Sorrow and death may not enter there; 
Time doth not breath on its fadeless bloom: 
For beyond the clouds and beyond the tomb, 
It is there, it is there, mj' child.' " 

— Mrs. Hemans. 



LECTURE XII. 

THE FUTURE RELIGION OF THE WORLD. 

It is sometimes laid to the charge of Spiritualists 
that they have no rehgion, and that they do not 
want any. We admit that there are such in our 
ranks, but they take this ground because some part 
of their nature is 3^et undeveloped. They are Spir- 
itualists of a low order, and they receive influences 
from decarnated ones who still linger in the border 
land between the physical and the spiritual world. 
Such persons still rest in the phenomena. Provided 
they can go to seances, get raps and table- tipping, 
get good slate-writing, see persons under control, 
and talk with materialized forms, they are perfectly 
satisfied. Spiritualism with them consists wholly of 
these phenomenal manifestations. 

The phenomena certainly form the basis of our 
knowledge, for it is these tangible facts that prove 
the continuance of life and the return of spirits. 
Never shall we weary of receiving tokens of the 
love of our departed friends for us. Glad shall we 
always be to attend seances and glean information 
regarding spirit life, and receive messages of love 
and cheer from our dear ones who have been "born 



240 Why she became a Spiritualist. 

into that undying life." Gladder still are we if in 
solitude we be so favored as to hear the tiny tap 
and spirit voices, and see our angels hovering near. 
Without these phenomena, we should not be sure 
of spirit, just as Mary Magdalene was not sure that 
Jesus was alive, until she saw him herself in the 
morning twilight in Joseph's garden. But the phe- 
nomena, if they lead us to nothing higher, are not 
in themselves fitted to unfold our souls. If the 
basic facts on which Spiritualism rests do not be- 
come incentives to higher spiritual life, they are not 
really useful to our future existence. The phenom- 
ena form the basis of the fair structure of our phil- 
osophy. And all through the facts and the philos- 
ophy should be the religion of Spiritualism. 

Some of us say, "No religion for me! I have 
had enough!" With regard to some applications of 
the term religion, we too say the same. We too 
have had quite enough of what some persons call 
religion. But we take issue, at outset, with all 
those who declare that they do not want any re- 
ligion. We speak on this occasion for those who 
want a religion, who discard that kind taught in the 
churches, and wish to ponder on the main features 
of the religion of the future, the one that will in 
time be adopted by all the human race. 

Religion in its essence is something that links us 
with that which is higher than ourselves, with the 
aim of elevating our nature. 



Why she became a Spiritualist. 241 

The church says that we are fallen, lost, undone; 
and that religion will save us from sinking into ever- 
lasting destruction. We have before us the New 
England Primer, and will give a few extracts found 
therein from "Spiritual Milk for American babes, 
drawn out of the breasts of both Testaments for 
their souls' nourishment." 

Q. What hath God done for you? 

A. God hath made me, he keepeth me, and he 
can save me. 

Q. How did God make you? 

A. In my first parents, holy and righteous. 

Q. Are 3^ou then born holy and righteous? 

A. No, my first father sinned, and I in him. 

Q. Are you then born a sinner? 

A. I was conceived in sin, and born in iniquity. 

Q. What is your birth sin? 

A. Adam's sin imputed to me, and a corrupt 
nature dwelling in me. 

Q. How then look 3^ou to be saved? 

A. Only by Jesus Christ. 

Q. How are you the nearer to Christ? 

A. As I come to feel my cursed state and need 
of a Savior. 

On such teachings were our ancestors nourished. 
That the church has been forced the last twenty- 
five years to modify the extreme views given above 
is wholly due to communications made by disem- 
bodied spirits. These messages have penetrated 



242 Why she became a Spiritualist. 

the tight joints of the old theologic armor. Think- 
ing men and women reject the old views quoted 
above. They refuse to believe that an infinitely 
powerful being made us so that w^e inevitably fell 
"in our first parents," so that from being good, we 
became wicked. They refuse to believe that this 
infinite being then planned a way to undo his own 
work, and by the death of his only son contrived to 
bring us up again, provided we were willing to ap- 
propriate the goodness of that son to ourselves, in- 
stead of being good on our own account. They 
refuse to believe that 

"Nothing either great or small 
Remains for us to do. " 

The religion of the future will have no such unrea- 
sonable, pernicious, and immoral features. The 
whole doctrine of "salvation" and "grace" is unbe- 
fitting an omnipotent and beneficent being, who 
knew what he was about in creating mankind. 
What! can a creature of God be lost? How can 
he possibly be lost, and that forever? The clergy 
claim that w^e need salvation. What do we need to 
be saved from? From God, who made us? 

We are reminded of an incident related by Jenny 
B. Hagan. An Indian astra}^ on the prairie met 
some white men. They said to him, "Poor Indian 
has lost his way." Straightenmg himself up with 
all the dignity of a sachem, he said, "No: Indian 
not lost. Wigwam lost!" 



Why she became a Spiritualist. 243 

Friends, progression is a better thing than re- 
demption or salvation; development is better than 
fall; and continued and ever advancing life is better 
than resurrection. 

The "relicrion" doled out to "American babes" in 
the last century is a sort that a reasonable man, who 
thinks without shackles, does not receive. 

vSuch a religion has been taught for many hundred 
years, and it was claimed that the heathen must 
accept it or be damned. To-day the heathen world 
is increasing in numbers much faster than conver- 
sions to Christainity are made. Moreover, in Chris- 
tian lands the number of persons who become either 
Spiritualists or materiahsts each year is larger than 
the number of persons who join the "orthodox" 
churches in the same period of time. Heathen na- 
tions do not adopt the scheme of religion above de- 
scribed, and millions in Christendom are discarding 
it as unjust and foolish. 

Some other form of religion than that called 
Christianity is what mankind will want in the long 
run. When we say Christainity, of course we 
mean the system taught by the churches. We do 
not mean what Jesus really taught. Though spirits 
now have progressed in some respects further than 
he did, he really taught pure Spiritualism ; and his 
teachings directly rested, as do ours, on spiritual 
manifestations. He taught that God is our father, 
that all men are brethren, that we must cultivate 



244 Why she became a Spiritualist. 

perfection of nature to the heart's core, and that we 
shall stand or fall according as we act here. He 
was sufficiently tinctured with the old Judaic views 
to make the mistake of believing in eternal punish- 
ment, and he did not see clearly the infinite progres- 
sion that will sometime become the law of life for 
all souls. His doctrines of morality, like those of 
Buddha, are unexceptionable. But the views of both 
Buddha and Jesus are inferior to the views revealed 
by the new and glorious light of Spiritualism. 

Buddha's future state amounts to annihilation. 
Memory disappears with each new so-called incar- 
nation, and conscious individuality is everlastingly 
submerged, as the Buddhistic soul is absorbed in 
Nirvana. Spiritualists know that our individuality, 
once realized, is consciously preserved through all 
development. Jesus taught eternal punishment for 
some. We Spiritualists know that suffering will 
cease when it has done its purifying work, and that 
progression will be the happy lot of all. 

As was said before, the Christianity that has been 
taught by the churches is not acceptable to the mass 
of mankind, and it cannot be forced upon them. A 
standing problem with the clergy is how to regain 
the prestige once possessed. How to get people to 
attend church is the great question. Little by little 
has the church slipped from its old moorings. But 
the mass of mankind have gone too fast for it, and 
it will continue to be so. Ecclesiastical power can- 



Why she became a Spiritualist. 245 

not preserve the authority it craves without some 
holding-point, as a creed, or a sacred book. No 
doubt they will try to keep a following. If there 
be no other way to keep it, the church may try to 
seize Spiritualism itself, and try to formulate it by a 
creed, and legislate for it by a synod, and prescribe 
for it by sacred writings. But we need suffer no 
second bondage in this age of the world. The rise 
of ecclesiastical power after the time of Christ was 
founded on two erroneous claims. One of these 
claims was that the spiritual manifestations produced 
by Jesus and his followers were miracles, and effected 
by supernatural power. The other erroneous claim 
was that the Bible was inspired by Almighty God, 
and therefore infallible. Adhering closely to these 
two points, priests were able to control Christendom. 
Thus did they dominate over human reason, and 
bring the Dark Ages onto Europe. 

As the church becomes more and more convinced 
that the claims of Spiritualism are true, it will try to 
get control of it, and use it as an engine for tyran- 
nizing over human reason. But, if Spiritualists are 
true to its principles, they will not be able to accom- 
plish this subjugation. The reasons are manifold, 
and we will point out some of them. 

In the first place, the laws of Nature are now un- 
derstood far better than they were at the beginning 
of the Christian era. Jesus did what he did in ac- 
cordance with Nature's laws. Men, not understand- 



246 Why she became a Spiritualist. 

ing this, thought his deeds were miracles. The 
communications of the spirit world being made by 
the application of the laws of science by skilled 
spirits, these manifestations are not miraculous; and 
designing priests cannot make use of them to control 
mankind. All can form circles, and if they do it in 
accordance with spiritual laws, they can develop 
mediums, and communicate with the disembodied 
for themselves. The spirit world is working to lead 
the whole human race into that spiritual era when 
all can communicate freely with their friends who 
have passed into the life beyond. 

Again, the advance of the principles of Spiritualism 
will show the world that new and greater messages 
are constantly given to us by decarnated spirits, 
who are themselves learning all the time. Under 
their wise tuition, many have already learned, and 
all will sometime learn, that new truths will be re- 
vealed to us as long as existence shall continue; and 
that the claim of a Bible completed hundreds of 
years ago is an obstacle to human progress. The 
principles of Spiritualism also teach us that a formu- 
lated creed is a wrong and a useless thing. What 
is believed in one age of the world will be discarded 
by a succeeding age, provided that mankind pro- 
gress. Away with all cast-iron moulds! 

" We must upward still, and onward, 
Who would keep abreast of Truth." 

So, friends, though the church itself should after 



Why she became a Spiritualist. 247 

a time try to appropriate Spiritualism, and try to use 
her as an instrument to bind the human soul in chains, 
she will find it impossible to do so, if we remember 
how she has done it in times past, and guard against 
such methods in the future. By uniting with the 
Spirit world in applying the laws of Nature to a 
more general communication between the two 
worlds, we can prevent ecclesiasts from ruling the 
world by so-called miracles. By ever holding in 
view the truth that new and grander knowledge is 
constantly coming to us from advancing spirits, we 
can prevent dogmatists from hampering mankind by 
stereotyped Bibles and formulated creeds. 

Let us adhere closely to the main elements of 
spiritual freedom. What are those elements? They 
are the use of our individual reason, the acceptance 
of personal instruction from advanced disembodied 
spirits, and a determination to guide our own con- 
duct by the laws that govern the progression of the 
spirit in endless duration. As man becomes more 
spiritual, more and more persons can communicate 
for themselves with the other world, and drink indi- 
vidually from those fountains of true freedom. The 
shackles of creed and force will fall away, and he 
will, while here below, possess the truth that will 
make him free indeed. 

Let us now consider some of the features of the 
rehgion that accords with the higher phases of 
Spirituahsm, and show it to be reasonable, adapted 



248 Why she became a Spiritualist. 

to the needs of the human race, and harmonious 
with a proper view of the infinite spirit. 

What is the origin of the religion of Spiritualism? 
It originated like all others in spiritual manifestations. 
But it has one great advantage over all the rest. 
While others rest on phenomena that took place 
long, long ago, and have to be taken on testimony; 
its manifestations are recent and present, and can be 
tested by all who will take the trouble to test them. 
Spiritualism is not founded, like Christianity, on 
phenomena that took place 1900 years ago; like 
Mohammedanism, on manifestations 1270 years 
gone by; like Judaism, on prophesies and so-called 
miracles, 2,000 to 4,000 years ago. Unlike all 
these, its solid foundation is in manifestations made 
daily and hourty in enlightened and scientific nations. 
Our nation would smile at the thought of accepting 
a religion just originating among a people as unen- 
lightened as the Arabs in the time of Mohammed, or 
the Jews in the time of Herod or Abraham. We 
are not called to do so. The religion we advocate 
has its origin in the best thought of our age, and it 
has elements that will enable it to keep abreast with 
all succeeding and advancing ages. 

This religion harmonizes with science, instead of 
contradicting it, as did the Christianit}^ of the Dark 
Ages. Its phenomena are founded on laws of 
physical and spiritual science that we are just be- 
ginning to understand, and that scientific spirits like 



Why she became a Spiritualist. 249 

Faraday and John King are applying with more 
and more skill with each revolving year. Raps and 
table tippings are produced by the application of 
the laws of magnetism. Spirit telegraphy is used 
to communicate thought by disembodied operators 
who understand how to use electric forces. Celes- 
tial chemists have learned to give us photographs 
of the spiritual body; to write between closed slates; 
to disintegrate flowers in green-houses, and re-make 
them from their elements between closed slates; 
and, more surprising still, to make temporary forms 
from certain elements drawn from the entranced 
body of a medium, that can walk and talk and de- 
materiahze while inhabited by a disembodied spirit. 
Spirit physicians, aided by bands of trained atten- 
dants, cure diseases of the mortal body, and also 
"minister to the mind diseased." We are just be- 
ginning to find out what can be done by the spirit- 
world. Each year brings new phases of manifesta- 
tion, and the most inspired of mortals would be sur- 
prised if brought face to face with the phenomena 
of fifty 3'ears to come. Let us do our part, and 
earnestly aid decarnated beings to prove to mortals 
that the soul does survive the death of the body, 
and that spirit is the real substance, of which this 
material world is only the shadow. 

Our religion is philosphical, as well as scientific, 
which is more than can be said of orthodoxy. Phi- 
losophy demands that each effect must have its cause, 



250 Why she became a Spiritualist. 

in accordance with the laws of nature. It demands 
that acts shall produce their legitimate effects. 
Good acts shall produce advancement, -per se — and 
not because the doer subscribes to some theological 
dogma. Evil acts shall produce ill effects, in spite 
of a person's having laid that evil act on the person 
of Jesus. Spiritualism philosophically teaches that 
violations of the laws of nature will hinder our pro- 
gression, and that living in accordance with the laws 
of nature will further our progression, no matter 
what religious dogmas we accept or reject, no mat- 
ter whether w^e be Buddhists, or Spiritualists, or 
Baptists. Spiritualism is thoroughly natural. It 
discards all miracles, and all supernaturalism. It 
shows us that we shall feel just as natural out of the 
body as in the body, and that we shall be just as 
subject to the laws of Nature there as here. 

The true religion gives a view of God that is far 
superior to that adopted by the Church. The god 
of Judaism w^as wrathful, revengeful, and partial. 
Calvin's god had to be propitiated, because he had 
constructed us in such a way that we fell like Adam 
and Eve, or Had the sins of Adam and Eve imput- 
ed to us, besides our own. Spiritualists believe in 
infinite life, that infinite life in motion gives the law^s 
of nature, and that all the products of infinite life 
are destined to progress forever. They believe 
that the germs of individual being are originally 
good, because they are the offspring of infinite life; 



Why she became a Spiritualist. 251 

that those germs are obliged, by the laws of their 
being, to develop as fast as their circumstances will 
allow, and that this development will go on more 
rapidly and more blissfully as the ages roll on. 

What is the chief end of man, according to Spir- 
itualism? Man's chief end is to find out the laws of 
the universe in which he finds himself an individu- 
ality, and to adapt himself to those laws, so that he 
may lay the foundation of progression here, and go 
on progressing forever and ever. 

Spiritualism is adapted to our present state, be- 
cause it teaches us to obey the laws of physical de- 
velopment. It tells us to keep our bodies clean, 
pure, temperate, and a fit temple for our spiritual 
body. Our immortal part is temporarily enshrined 
in this physical form, and if we develop it here by 
right actions, we shall not enter spirit life in a crip- 
pled condition. 

The true religion is good for us intellectually, be- 
cause it frees us from all prejudice, and thus enables 
us to receive pure truth from those whose greater 
knowledge fits them to be our teachers. It is reas- 
onable, philosophical, and natural, and has progres- 
sion as its object. For these reasons, it satisfies us; 
and we find that the further we go, the more satis- 
factory does it become. 

It satisfi.es the heart, as well as the physical and 
the intellectual nature. Instead of teaching us that 
members of a family will be separated forever, be- 



252 Why she became a Spiritualist. 

cause they differed in regard to some theological 
doctrine, it proves to us that those who love each 
other will be together in the sweet by and by. In- 
stead of tr34ng to make us accept the notion that 
hundreds of millions will be swept into eternal per- 
dition because they did not "accept the righteous- 
ness" of somebody of whom they never heard, it 
show^s us that the Chinese, the American Indians, 
the Abyssinians, in fact all men, of whatever race, 
or age, or nation, will have a chance to progress in 
the next life. The poor Hottentot, w^ho prays de- 
voutly to his fetish, and loves his wife and child, 
will according to its teachings enter spirit life on a 
brighter plane than the "Christian" capitalist w^ho 
grinds money out of the poor; than the married 
tyrant who allows his conjugal slave to commit 
murder by making conception abortive, so that he 
may gratify his physical lust ; than the clergyman 
who veils a lascivious heart by the robe of sanctity; 
or a physician w4io misuses his skill, by murdering an 
unborn babe at the request of its unnatural parents. 
Persons whose reason dominates the body engage 
in the sexual act with a view to procreate offspring. 
And as all beings begin existence on the ph3'sical 
plane, such acts belong only to physical existence. 
Persons who find their chief pleasure in the indul- 
gence of sensual gratifications wall find themselves 
unable to progress in spirit life, until they have rid 
themselves of that condition. 



Why she became a Spiritualist. 253 

Spiritualism teaches humanity. It tells us to be 
kind to our dumb animals, our beasts of burden, 
and our pets, because if we fail to show loving care 
to beings who are dependent on us, we are hinder- 
ing the development of our own souls. It rebukes 
the pridfe of women who allow their horses' heads 
to be held up by the cruel overcheck rein, in order 
to satisfy their own vanity ; and the cruelty of men 
who maim their animals by docking their tails — be- 
cause it is the fashion ! 

It sternly condemns those who practice vivisec- 
tion on harmless animals, except in rare and extreme 
cases where one competent surgeon is actually find- 
ing out some definite fact that may lessen the suffer- 
ing of many. That vivisection be practised in or- 
der to instruct a class of students, or to gratify the 
curiosity of savants is outrageous in the extreme. 
In all cases, anaesthetics should be administered, and 
the animal killed before regaining consciousness. 
Is science intended to brutalize human beings? 
The tendency of true science is to make us more 
humane, and more thoughtful for those who are 
weaker than ourselves. 

Especially does our religion teach us to be humane 
to little children. They should be welcomed into 
existence, and the principles of spiritual progression 
should be instilled into their souls by the authors of 
their being. Spiritualism goes to the root of the 
family system, and seeks to prevent marriages that 



2 54 Why she became a Spiritualist. 

are not founded on a mutual love and friendship be- 
tween a man and woman which began in their no- 
blest and most spiritual hours. Such a marriage 
will not result in the murder of unborn children, and 
in the strife between husband and wife which harms 
the moral nature of their little ones. 

We believe that all individual spirits, in all worlds, 
began their existence on the physical plane. They 
were individualized from the infinite spirit in the 
ph3^sical body of their parent. Conception, gesta- 
tion, and birth from the body of the mother, attend 
the beginning of our personal existence on this earth. 
These acts do not then take place in the Spirit-world. 
They have no place there, for existence does not be- 
gin there. But, to the Spiritualist, these acts are 
fraught with a dignity and an importance that rests 
on his knowledge that the life here begun will con- 
tinue forever and will eternally progress. 

True marriage, between a good man and a good 
woman, who know that they are pro-creating a be- 
ing destined to eternal advancement, is a noble and 
a blessed thing. The union being one in which the 
conjugal affections are directed to but one person, 
the choice being reciprocal, free, for life, and pub- 
licly ratified,* we have the origin of the family. In 
this way only can the different family relations be 
clearly defined. A family, thus begun, will continue 

* See pag-e 247 of "A System of Moral Science," by Drs. Hickok and 
Seelye. 



Why she became a Spiritualist. 255 

its relations in the Spirit-world. And even where 
the family relation fails to reach ideal perfection, it 
will still continue. The parents will love their chil- 
dren, the children will love their parents, relations 
will be interested in each other, and friendship will 
continue, just so long as we shall remember our life 
in this world, and so long as we continue to cherish 
love for dear Mother Earth, where we began to be. 

As to Theosophy, it rests on theory, while Spirit- 
ualism rests on facts; those decarnated spirits who 
adopt it, take it theoretically and give no proof of 
it; some who passed to the other side of life long 
before the time of Moses know nothing of it; it 
takes aw^ay all consciousness of individuality by 
nullifying the memory — memory being the only 
proof of identity. Theosophy, in short, contradicts 
the facts of Spiritualism by dogmatic assumption; 
and it subverts the principles of Spiritualism, especi- 
ally that basic and most glorious principle — consci- 
ous individuality, and conscious progression. As 
Mrs. R. S. LiUie lately remarked, Spiritualists who 
try to ride at one and the same time on the three 
horses — Spiritualism, Theosophy, and Christian 
Science — will not be able to maintain a very 
firm seat. 

This religion teaches us to be true. By and by 
when out of the body we must be true, because de- 
ceit can exist only under physical conditions. If 



256 Why she became a Spiritualist. 

false here, we shall not be happy there till we have 
learned to take pleasure in being true. 

Spiritualism teaches absolute and universal love 
and helpfulness, without bounds and without an end. 
We shall not get on there, if we do not try to help 
all whom we can help. Advanced spirits stretch 
tender, helpful hands down to those on a lower 
plane ; they aspire with admiration and docility to 
those who have attained a greater height than their 
own. 

Becoming conscious that eternal progression is 
the object for which we were created, our life on 
earth is ennobled. Death loses all its terrors, for it 
is a garlanded gateway into a nobler life. Our 
heart swells as we get faint glimpses of the heights 
that humanity is destined to attain. Some have 
these glorious thoughts and hopes, but they keep 
them shut up in their own breasts, for fear of offend- 
ing the prejudices of society. Ah! friends, let 
us lay by all such fears, and give these joyous hopes 
to all with whom we come in contact. Let us use 
every possible means to strengthen each other, and 
to bind in a helpful band all those who see the 
light upon the mountain tops. 

Church organization riveted the fetters of the 
human mind so fast, that some of us are afraid to 
organize in any way. Certainly we shall never sub- 
scribe to any form that can hinder progress. It is 
dangerous to formulate what we now believe, be- 



Why she became a Spiritualist. 257 

cause by and by new information may lead us to be- 
lieve quite differently. But, if we are Spiritualists, 
tbere are certain things that we know. We know 
that the spirit survives the death of the physical 
body, and that there is intelligent communication 
between the living and the so-called dead. We 
also know that progression is the law of existence, 
both now and hereafter. As Progressive Spiritual- 
ists, we accept all true spiritual manifestations as be- 
ing direct proofs of the continuity of life; and we 
desire by works of humanity, truth, and love, to de- 
velop ourselves while on the earth plane, so that 
our advancement may be more rapid, after we 
leave the physical body. 

We want no creed, for a creed soon wears out or 
grows too tight, and has to be cast off by a live, grow- 
ing body. But it seems to us that there are certain 
things that all Spiritualists know, that they reach 
after, and that this knowledge and these aspirations 
may readily form a basis of union that will cause 
Spiritualism to reach more souls, and do more effect- 
ive work for all humanity, both in the body and out 
of the body. For my part, I expect to be a Pro- 
gressive Spiritualist, both "now and never so many 
myriads of ages hence." 



258 Why she became a Spiritualist. 



A DREAM OF HEAVEN. 



FROM A LONDON NEWSPAPER, 



' lyo! the seal of Death is breaking; 
Those who slept its sleep are waking-; 

Eden opes her portals fair: 
Hark! the harps of joy are ringing; 
Hark! the seraph hymn is singing, 
And the living rills are flinging 

Music on immortal air. 



There, no more at eve declining, 
Suns without a cloud are shining, 

O'er the land of life and love. 
Heaven's own harvest woos the reaper, 
Heaven's own dreams entrance the sleeper, 
Niqt a tear is left the weeper, 

To profane one flower above. 



No frail lilies there are breathing, 
There no thorny rose is wreathing, 

In the bowers of Paradise, 
"Where the founts of life are flowing, 
Flowers unknown to earth are blowing, 
Mid superber verdure glowing, 

Than is sunned by mortal skies. 



Why she became a Spiritualist. 259 



'There the groves of heaven, that never 
Fade or fall, are green forever, 

Mirrored in the radiant tide. 
There along the sacred waters, 
Unprofaned by tears or slaughters, 
Wander earth's immortal daughters. 

And shall evermore abide. 



■ There no sigh of memory swelleth, 
There no tear of misery dwelleth. 

Hearts will bleed or break no more. 
Past is all the cold world's scorning, 
Gone the night and broke the morning, 
With seraphic day adorning 

I,ife's glad wave and golden shore. 



Oh! on that bright shore to wander. 
Trace those radiant waves' meander, 

All we loved and lost to see! 
Is this thought, so pure, so splendid, 
Vainly with our being blended ? 
No ! with time ye are not ended, 

Visions of eternity." 



PERSONAL COMMUNICATIONS. 



The following communications were given to the 
writer of this book, under circumstances that make 
their authenticity indisputable. They were given in 
connection with my questions and remarks, by an 
"independent slate writer." Some were written in 
my lap on the inside of a slate from which I had 
just rubbed out the previous communication. I had 
closed the slate and then I held it shut fast with both 
my hands in my lap. I heard and felt the writing, 
opened it myself, read it, and copied it on the spot. 
Strange? Yes: but ti'iie. It was a bright morn- 
ing, the curtains were wide open, and the room 
as light as the sun could make it. 
Given August 26^ i8go, 

"I am glad to come to you. 

Adoniram Judson." 

"I come to ni}^ love. Mother." 

Given August ^7, i8go. 

"How best to unfold the soul is the question. I am 
anxious Edward should enjoy this truth. The spir- 
it of benevolence and truth is his. 

Your father, Adoniram Judson." 

260 



Why she became a Spiritualist. 261 

I had been remarking that I had learned that his 
first wife, Mrs. Ann H. Judson, is nearest to him in 
spirit life, and I was querying whether my own mother 
had* found a soul mate, when this was written: 

"Dear child, in spirit I come, and watch over my 
children. I am as 3'et in oneness with them. 

Mother." 

I asked father who the man was with benignant, 
intellectual face, whose head is close to my brain in 
my spirit photograph. He said: 

"You did not know him in life. It was Edwards." 

Further inquiry elicited the fact that it was the 
author of the "Freedom of the Will." I expressed 
m}^ surprise that one like him should come to me, 
though I had been strongly interested in his charac- 
ter for many years. Father replied : 

"Surely, Jonathan Edwards. You had a drawing, 
because he was near you." 

Then came the following communication : 

"Dear friend, my mission to earth was to enlight- 
en the world. You have taught in your way. You 
are called to a higher school. Edwards." 

Remarking that timidity and a weak voice were 
in the way of my doing public work, he said: 

"Yes, child; you will speak and write. 

Edw^ards." 

"What," said I, shall I get up and face an au- 
dience, when I do not know what I am going to say?" 

"We will fill your mouth," was his reply. 



262 Why she became a Spiritualist. 

I ask myself why one with so powerful an intel- 
lect and so exalted a character should aid one so in- 
ferior as myself. It can only be accounted for by 
the fact that I have a strong sympathy with and lik- 
ing for his mind and character. It is as if a poor 
little autoharp were placed beside a Chickering or 
Steinway grand piano. The inferior instrument vi- 
brates in unison with the magnificent chords drawn 
from the mighty one. 
Given August ^p, i8()o. 

"My daughter, we are blest to have this meeting. 
It takes away the pain of parting. Mother." 

"And I am here with mother, dear child. Bless 
you. Aunty Wade." 

"My beautiful boys! I am proud of them. I am 
glad they are leading the people, but I wish they 
would speak more understandingly of God's great 
love. Mother." 

"I want to speak to you of this new work of yours. 
We cannot make others come into our light until 
they grow there. There are many minds who have 
been educated in the world's lore, who may be as 
ignorant as the poor, benighted ones I taught, and 
who must be taught in the same way, with patience 
and love. Adoniram." 

On my asking him if he had been able to manifest 
to me at a certain seance, he said : 

"There are many pitfalls for you. Think well, 
and let reason balance the manifestations." 



Why she became a Spiritualist. 263 

Given August jo^ 18(^0. 

"There may be many days before I can talk with 
you face to face; but soul to soul, like the blending 
of light, will our souls mingle. Father." 

"I want to tell you why I came on that picture. 
Because I saw in you one who may do a good work 
with a class of people that others could not. 

E. V. Wilson." 
"Now, my little girl, I may not write you, but you 
know that mother's love is a shield and a comfort to 
you, that mother's lullaby is a sweet song of peace. 

Mother." 
"My student, I too am a student in the expression 
of truth. We will go on, learning and teaching to- 
gether. J. Edwards." 
(In answer to a question.) 
"Yes; the real is not seen. The soul sends out 
buds that blossom to the external, only in the fulness 
of things. Go on brave and strong. 

Your father, A. J." 
Given Feb, 10, i8gi. 

"Look to the world at large, my dear daughter. 

Sarah." 



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